


Haikyuu!! Welcome to Despair

by chukipye



Series: Dangan Ronpa AU [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa, Haikyuu!!
Genre: F/M, M/M, Monobear too, cuz i can't come up with mascots, prepare for feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-05
Updated: 2017-02-16
Packaged: 2018-09-22 03:39:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 34
Words: 45,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9581561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chukipye/pseuds/chukipye
Summary: It was suppose to be a beta-test. That was it. This is more than just playing a game.Here there's no 1-ups. Only Game Overs.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my goodness a Dangan Ronpa AU?! Hopefully you know the basic plot of Dangan Ronpa but if not i'll explain it in the upcoming chapters  
> As you can tell, there's a large cast so I'll do my best to keep track of it all.  
> MInor thing:  
> Each "Chapter" is three parts: The 'School Life' (where motives are given, people are talking in a casual way and the school is explored) that will end with a body being discovered, "Investigative" part (the crime being investigated by our protag and learning some things), and lastly the "Trial" where we find out the killer and how they did it!  
> FEEL FREE TO COMMENT WHO YOU THINK DID IT AND WHO YOU THINK WILL DIE AND WHO YOU THINK THE MASTERMIND IS!

Kenma had been obsessed over this game series ever since the first game came out. Then the second. And the pre-sequel. And now the third one was due to come out in a year. He was beyond hyped and his team could sense it. So when he found out they had not-only registered him for a contest to beta-test the game, but he had somehow manage to _win_ it, he was overwhelmed with emotion. He was excited and anxious at the same time. Kuroo of course insisted to go with him to make sure he didn’t get lost. And now here they were, standing outside of the Spike Chunsoft building. Kenma shifted back and forth, tapping on his phone nervously.

“Come on, Kitten. Let’s go play a game.” Kuroo’s hand on his shoulder was firm and familiar. Kenma slid his phone into his pocket as Kuroo led them both into the lobby.

“Hello there! Are you a beta-tester as well?” The receptionist was overly happy and Kenma immediately felt unease. Luckily, Kuroo was there to respond for him.

“Yup. Kozume Kenma. I’m here to take him home later.” Kuroo explained. The receptionist typed something into the computer and two badges were printed out of a nearby printer.

“Here we go! Keep these on at all times.” She handed them the badges, which the two pinned on.

“Alright, the rest of the testers are in the next room on your right. We should be starting shortly.” Kuroo nodded and thanked her before the two walked towards the other room.

“After you, kitten.” Kuroo grinned as he held the door open. Kenma rolled his eyes as he entered, Kuroo right behind him.

“WAIT WAIT WAIT HOLD THE DOOR!” Every person in the room shouted. Kuroo jumped in shock and the door slammed shut with a loud THUD. The room all groaned, some teens collapsing on the couches in disappointment. Kenma looked around and realized he recognized some of the faces.

“Wait… Kuroo? And Kozume-san?” The Karasuno captain, Sawamura Daichi blinked, obviously confused. Sitting next to him on the couch was the vice-captain, Sugawara, and a girl in an orange flower crown with short hair.

“Bro! I knew you’d come! I mean, I knew Kenma was gonna come cuz he likes games and I knew you would come because you don’t let Kenma go anywhere alone since he gets los-“ Bokuto Koutarou, the annoyingly-familiar owl captain was interrupted by a hand on his shoulder. The much more level-headed (and one of Kenma’s dearest friends from another team, Akaashi Keiji was the one to cut him off.

“The door locked behind us, and we’re never fast enough to catch it.” He explained. Kuroo turned and tried to push the door open, but nothing happened.

“Yes because none of us tried that before.” Kuroo scowled as he turned back around, glaring at the unfortunately familiar teen who had spoken.

“Why the hell are you here, Daishou?” Kuroo snapped. Kenma slid his hand in his and squeezed, as he knew would calm him down. Daishou was leaning against the wall, his on-and-off again girlfriend, Mika, holding his hand.

“We are all here to play the new game that is being released.” A deep voice interrupted the argument before it could begin. On one of the single-seats was a large teen with a sports jacket on, another teen sitting on the floor in front of him with his legs crossed. His red hair was spiked wildly, nearly as much as Bokuto’s. Kenma recognized him from magazines and websites: the infamous Ushijima Wakatoshi, ace of Shiratorizawa. He knew the other boy was his teammate but only knew of his nickname, the Guess Monster.

“If I knew Ushiwaka was going to be here, I would’ve stayed home.” The pretty boy leaning on the wall farthest from Ushijima scoffed, arms folded. A grumpier looking teen stood next to him and Kenma knew from Hinata’s description they had to be from Aoba Johsai.

“I am merely here to keep Tendou company.” Ushijima frowned. The red haired boy sent Oikawa a smirk, who just glared back before turning away with a huff.

“So some of us seem to know each other and some don’t, so maybe we should introduce ourselves to those we don’t know? Hello, my name is Michimiya Yui and I am the captain of the Karasuno girls’ volleyball team.” The girl with the flower crown smiled and Kenma felt like she was trustworthy.

“I’m Iwaizumi Hajime, this idiot is Oikawa Tooru. We’re from Aoba Johsai.” Oikawa made a whining noise, something about “deserving a better introduction” but Iwaizumi smacked him on the arm.

“My name is Hana Misaki, I’m the manager of the Johzenji High school volleyball team and this is- Yuuji! Take out your earbuds and introduce yourself!” A girl sitting on the couch next to Michimiya smacked a boy sitting on the ground next to her, who pulled out an earbud.

“What? Oh. Introductions. The name’s Terushima Yuuji, captain of Johzenji!” Terushima’s bleach-blonde hair reminded Kenma of the Karasuno coach and he thought he saw a tongue piercing. Both of the Johzenji teens were wearing their yellow sweat jackets.

“You already know us but some of the other Tokyo teams don’t. My name is Sawamura Daichi, and this is Sugawara Koushi. We're the captain and vice-captain of Karasuno, respectively.” Daichi and Suga seemed more relaxed than during matches, and much more relaxed than with their rambunctious teammates. Kenma had seen them corral crows with more energy than Lev and Inuoka combined so he knew they could deal with the other people in the room.

“I am Ushijima Wakatoshi. This is Tendou Satori. We are from Shiratorizawa.”

 _As if he needed to introduce himself,_ Kenma thought. Any volleyball player in Tokyo or Miyagi knew who Ushijima was. Shiratorizawa had been to Nationals three years in a row and were on their way this time too, unless they lost at the next tournament.

“I’m Daishou Suguru, captain of the Nohebi volleyball team, and this is my lovely girlfriend Okinara Mika.” He gave her a peck on the cheek. Mika giggled, cheeks blushing.

“Please, just call me Mika. Everyone does. Besides, if we’re all going to play together, we shouldn’t worry about formalities.” She smiled. Kenma didn’t know much about her, other than she was in a consistent on and off again relationship with Daishou, which he had heard from Kuroo. Kuroo and Daishou were always gossiping about each other, trying to dig up dirt for their taunts before games.

“Alright, well I’m Kuroo Tetsurou and this is Kozume Kenma. We’re from Nekoma High, also on the volleyball team, and we’ll probably win this because nobody is better at video games than Kenma.” Kuroo grinned while Kenma just nodded in greeting, really wanting to pull out his phone, but not wanting to appear rude. He hadn’t even thought that he’d be playing with other people, since the game series had always been single player games beforehand.

“Hey hey hey, don’t forget about us!” Kuroo laughed as Bokuto pouted.

“My name is Akaashi Keiji and this is Bokuto Koutarou. We are from Fukurodani high, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Akaashi greeted. Bokuto turned on Akaashi, mouth dropping.

“Akaaaaashi! You can give me a cooler introduction than that!” He whined. Akaashi raised an eyebrow.

“I figured adding the ‘number four ace in Japan’ part would be unnecessary, considering the number three ace is also in the room.” Bokuto’s face turned red as the room snickered, excluding Ushijima and Bokuto. Even Kenma chuckled a bit.

“Akaaashi! You gotta be on my side for this kind of stuff!” Bokuto folded his arms, sulking a bit. Akaashi sighed. Suddenly there was a crackling sound and a voice filled the room.

“ _Hello? Hello! I see all our players have arrived!_ ” Kenma’s hand tightened on Kuroo’s, as he recognized the high-pitched voice.

“What’s wrong, kitten?” Kuroo asked quietly, glancing down at him.

“That’s the voice from the game. From the bear.” Kenma whispered. Kuroo blinked, confused. Kenma suddenly remembered that even though he had told Kuroo about the game, his friend hadn’t played it himself.

“ _Alrighty! Are you all ready for the super-fun beta test?”_ Kenma was not ready. He tried to push the door open, but it wouldn’t budge.

“Is something wrong, Kozume-san?” He heard Ushijima ask and he was aware of all the eyes on him.

“This isn’t right. W-We need to leave.” Kenma kept trying to push the door before Kuroo pulled him away, hands firmly on his shoulder.  
“Kenma! Relax! It’s just a game!” Kenma squirmed out of his grasp, eyes flickering around the room. There was a mix of confusion and worry in everyone’s eyes.

“ _Sounds like you’re ready, upupupupupu~ Let’s begin our fun game!”_ There was a hissing noise and everyone was on their feet as vents opened from the walls, gas filling the room.

“Oh my god!”

“What the fuck?!”

“HEY SOMEBODY HELP!”

Shouts filled the air but they faded as the teens began to collapse. Kenma felt Kuroo slump against him and fell onto the ground with his taller friend on top of him. The last thing he heard was the sound of a door unlocking before everything faded to black.


	2. Prologue P2

“-ma! Kenma, wake up!” Kenma groaned as he felt someone shake him. He turned, pulling his blankets over his head.

_…pulling his blankets over his head?_ Kenma’s eyes flew open as he realized he wasn’t at home in his warm comfy bed, but on the familiar feeling of a gym floor. He sat up slowly, wincing at the bright lights. Kuroo was kneeling next to him, looking worried.

“You okay, kitten?” He asked. Kenma nodded and looked around. Everyone else was waking up in similar states. He could tell they were in a gym, like any other gym, but he noticed that the windows were all boarded shut with sheets of iron.

“Where are we?” Kenma asked as Kuroo helped him stand up.

“I have no idea. We got gassed in the meeting room and I woke up here. Do you think this is part of the game?” Kuroo’s eyes were flickering as he took in the room. Kenma knew Kuroo was just as nervous as he was.

“ _Ding dong! That’s right~! Iiiiiit’s game time!_ ” Everyone froze as the voice from earlier echoed around the room. They all turned to the front of the gym, eyes wide.

“What. The. Fuck.” Terushima said what everyone else was thinking.

“You guys see the bear, right? The standing, talking bear?” Iwaizumi whispered, keeping an eye on the black-and-white bear standing at the entrance of the gym.

“It’s creepy.” Mika held tightly onto Daishou’s arm, eyes wide.

“ _That’s rude! I’m right here! You kids should be more polite to your GameMaster~”_ Someone gasped as the bear talked (Kenma thought it was Michimiya, but he didn’t turn around to look).

“Its name is Monokuma. He’s the mascot of the game series we’re supposed to beta test.” Kenma explained. Kuroo’s eyes widened in realization.

“That’s why you freaked out when you heard it speaking on the intercom. You recognized it from the game.” Kenma nodded. He noticed Monokuma glaring at him and he moved slightly behind Kuroo, very much disliking the glowing red-eye.

“ _Kenma-kun rudely took my introduction. So I’ll cut to the chase. I’m your lovable, adorable GameMaster, here to oversee your beta-test! The game is quite easy. All you have to do…is kill someone.”_ The room was silent. Kenma grabbed Kuroo’s hand, trying to keep his own from shaking.

“What, like a final boss kind of thing? Sure, whatever. Hand us the controllers and let’s do this.” Terushima grinned, stepping forward.

“…that’s not what he meant.” Kenma murmured. Terushima turned to him, confused.

“ _Aw Kenma-kun! You must be my biggest fan~! But he’s right. There’s no controllers here! You have to kill another one of your peers. And get away with it, of course.”_ Terushima’s eyes went wide, and Kenma knew everyone else’s were too as protests filled the room.

“You must be joking!”

“ _Kill_ one of us? We’re just teenagers, how could we possibly do that?!”

“That’s beyond messed up!”

“What do you mean, get away with it?” Everyone went quiet at Ushijima’s question.

“ _Well, obviously it wouldn’t be fair if it was just ‘kill someone’. At least half of you wouldn’t have a chance to win! So after each murder, I’ll let you investigate the crime and go to trial to try and find the killer! Find the killer, and only the killer will get punished. But guess wrong and everyone else gets punished instead! Upupupupu~!”_ The bear laughed again.

“What do you mean by ‘punished’?” Iwaizumi asked, scowling.

“Execution. In the games they’re usually ironic and painful.” Kenma explained, biting his lip. This was not what he wanted when he went to play the next game. He meant as a third-party player, not a direct participant.

“E-Execution?! That’s illegal!” Daichi sputtered.

“ _Illegal? Oh no no no! Silly boy, you all read and signed the contracts to play the game! You promised to follow the rules~ and these are the GameMaster’s rules!”_ Monokuma raised his arms and suddenly dark rectangles fell from the ceiling. Several people nearly got hit on the head as they caught the rectangles. They looked like cell phones. Kenma tapped the button on his and it lit up, his name glowing on the screen before going to a normal phone menu. He immediately went to the dial button, but all it did was bring up the contacts, which were only the other people in the room.

“ _The rules are all listed in there, so you can check them if you forget!_ _Now have fun with this game! I’m excited to see how it turns out!_ ” The lights flickered and Monokuma vanished. Almost immediately Oikawa whirled around, glaring at Ushijima

“What the fuck do you mean ‘what do you mean get away with it’?! You trying to kill someone?!” He shouted. Iwaizumi held his arm but looked equally pissed off.

“I was simply wondering what all the rules meant. Wouldn’t it better to have proper clarification than to be stuck with loopholes?” Ushijima seemed confused, like he didn’t realize what was wrong with his question.

“Ushijima-san, by asking about the proper definition of ‘getting away with it’, you implied that you wanted to…” Sugawara trailed off, adverting his eyes. Ushijima’s eyes widened in realization.

“I assure you that was not my intention.” Tendou slung an arm around Ushijima. Kenma noticed Ushijima relax, just a small amount.

“Wakatoshi’s real good at asking questions the rest of us are thinking but are too afraid to say. I’m sure others were thinking the same thing. Maybe even you, princess.” Tendou drawled. Oikawa twitch and Iwaizumi had to actually hold him back this time.

“Okay! That’s enough! Obviously this… ‘Game Master’ wants us to fight amongst each other. That’s what’ll cause his sick game to start, right?” Misaki folded her arms, giving Oikawa and Tendou a firm look.

“Misaki’s right. Let’s just start looking for the exit.” Terushima flicked his finger on his phone a few more times before pocketing it.

“Shouldn’t we look at the rules? We don’t want to accidentally break one.” Michimiya pointed out. Kenma nodded, pulling the tab open on his phone.

“Hey kitten…You played these games right? What uh…happens if we break a rule?” Kuroo asked. Kenma blinked, looking up at him.

“You get punished. Monokuma follows the rules too though, so we just have to be careful.” Terushima almost immediately pulled his phone back out, opening the rules.

“Alright. ‘Rule 1: No violence against the Game Master is permitted. Absolutely no exceptions’. So we can’t fight the bear.” Daishou clicked his tongue, sounding disappointed.

“Rule 2: The only way to escape is to kill….okay so rule 2 and rule 3 are just reminders of the killing game part.” Mika left-swiped her phone quickly.

“The wording is special. See, in rule 3: **_only_** the killer will be punished if caught. So if someone is an accomplice, they won’t get punished if they weren’t the one in charge of it. But in the same way, if the two get away with it, the accomplice won’t win and will get punished with everyone else.” Kenma explained.   
“I can’t believe I forgot this! Kenma, you play a lot of video games. So you must’ve played one like this to know all of this.” Sugawara smiled nicely at him. Kenma nodded, looking down at his phone and letting his hair cover his face like usual.

“Yeah. The Dangan Ronpa game series are exactly like this. The new one is the one we were supposed to be beta-testing. I guess this is a bit literal.” He let out a sigh, blowing air at his hair.

“Alright, let’s continue with the rules. ‘Rule 4: You cannot break the locks on doors. Any violators will be punished’. Bokuto-san this one is important. Don’t forget.” Akaashi glanced up at Bokuto, making sure he was paying attention.

“I don’t break locks on purpose!” Bokuto frowned.

“My locker in the club room speaks otherwise.” Akaashi responded coolly. Kuroo snickered as Bokuto whined.

“Alright last one. ‘Rule 5: Game rules can be added or adjusted by the Game Master’. So if more stuff comes up, the bear can add more rules to keep the game going.” Kuroo mused before he pocketed his phone.

“What do we do now?” Michimiya asked, glancing around.

“I vote we partner up and start exploring. Figure out our surroundings and all that. Look for an exit, or if there isn’t one find rooms to sleep in, showers to bathe in, food to eat, and all the essentials.” Daichi suggested.

“I second that. We don’t know what’s in store for us, so partnering up is a good idea. Or groups of three since we have an odd number.” Iwaizumi agreed. Kenma immediately stepped closer to Kuroo, a similar pattern sweeping through the group as everyone partnered with whoever they came with.

“Alright gang, let’s split up and search for clues!” Kuroo clapped his hands together.

“Did you just Scooby-doo us?” Daishou raised an eyebrow. Kuroo smirked.

“We got a mystery to solve, don’t we? Don’t worry, you’re definitely the cowardly dog.” Kuroo taunted. Daishou growled but Mika pulled him away.

“Fight later. Explore now.” She scolded, leading him out of the gym. The groups all began to leave the gym, soon leaving just Kuroo and Kenma.

“Alright Mr. Genius Gamer, lead the way.” Kenma blinked as Kuroo looked at him expectantly.

“But you always lead.” Kenma frowned. Kuroo shrugged.

“I mean between the two of us, who’s more likely to know how things work around here?” He made a fair point. Kenma sighed and took Kuroo’s hand, pulling him to the exit.

“Fine. Let’s get going then.”


	3. Prologue P3

Overall, the school was similar to the one in the games. They were stuck on the ground floor, with barricades on the stairs, and some rooms were locked.

“I know we can’t break locks, but can we knock down barricades?” Bokuto was talking to Akaashi as Kuroo and Kenma walked by.

“Bokuto-san, these bars are metal. You’ll end up hurting yourself.” Akaashi responded. Kuroo shook his head, chuckling.

“At least Bo’s not freaking out.” Kenma nodded as they kept going.

“I can’t believe my room is next to his! Do you think we can switch?” They ran into Daishou and Mika next, the snake-like boy looking very displeased. Kenma looked around the hall they were in and saw doors with small drawings on them.

“Oh. These are dorms.” Kenma remembered. He saw his, then Kuroo’s, and right next to Kuroo’s was Daishou’s.

“Oh come the fuck on.” Kuroo groaned, noticing the room arrangement.

“It’s next door, the rooms are soundproof so murder would work excellently and not to mention Monokuma probably did that so you’d be more likely to argue and then kill each other. I bet Oikawa is next to Ushijima.” A sudden screech proved his point, followed by an “IWA-CHAN SWITCH ROOMS WITH ME!” Kenma rolled his eyes and tried to open the door to his room.

“Wha-“

“ _That won’t work!”_ All four of them jumped and Mika shrieked as Monokuma appeared out of nowhere. Oikawa and Iwaizumi appeared at the end of the hall, having heard the scream.

“Oh great it’s the fucking bear.” Iwaizumi groaned. Monokuma looked sad.

“ _Aw why do you all hate your loving GameMaster? I was just gonna to tell you how to open your dorm rooms.”_ The bear sat down on the floor, drawing circles with its claw.

“Oh for the love of- Daishou! You like to suck up to officials, get to it.” Kuroo hissed. Daishou scowled, glaring.

“It is a viable strategy and you know it!” He hissed back. Mika gently put a hand on his shoulder.

“Come on Su-chan. You’re good at compliments.” She pleaded. Kenma could see Daishou’s will weaken and the boy finally sighed.

“Fine. FINE. You owe me.” He turned to Monokuma, kneeling next to him.

“Hey, GameMaster? Cool title by the way. Do you think you could let us in our rooms? I mean, we can’t kill each other if we can’t sleep to get our strength up.” He hesitated before gently rubbing the bear’s back.

“Oh my god he’s so soft.” Daishou breathed. Kenma managed to hide his chuckle as Monokuma stood up, wiping his eyes.   
“ _You are absolutely right! This would make your game way too difficult to clear! But I can’t let you in.”_ Daishou twitched as he stood up, folding his arms.

“Oh really? And why not?” Mika put her hand in Daishou’s, trying to keep him calm.

“ _Because the only ones who can unlock your room is you! Use your phone, there’s a scanner on the lock._ ” Kenma blinked before he pulled out his phone. He swiped it in front of the handle and the door unlocked, easily being pushed open.

“So the only way anyone else can enter out room is if we unlock it for them.” Kenma thought aloud as he walked in his room, Kuroo right behind him, leaving the bear behind. The room was basic in design, with a bed and a bathroom. But Kenma was more excited to see the bookshelf filled with games.

“Well, someone knows you pretty well.” Kuroo mused as Kenma hurried to the games.

“….These are all murder mystery games.” Kenma quickly realized, scanning the titles.

“Like those Phoenix Wright games?” Kuroo looked up at the higher games on the shelf.

“Yup. Probably to give me ideas on murdering someone.” He pulled one of the games out and began looking for something to play it on. He began searching through the drawers. There was a notepad and some pencils, a lot of empty drawers and one that had a toolkit in it.

“Found a 3DS kitten.” Kenma turned and saw a victorious-looking Kuroo holding up a red 3DS. He immediately reached for it and Kuroo gave it to him.

“There’s a charger by the bed too. But don’t stay in here all day every day, okay? I don’t want to think you’re just playing in here and then find out…you know…” Kuroo trailed off and Kenma knew what he meant. It’d be easy for Kenma to be killed and not be discovered if he was always missing in the first place.

“I can bring it with me.” Kenma put the 3DS in his pocket after putting the game in.

“You want to go through your room?” Kenma asked. Kuroo shook his head.

“Probably nothing too cool in there. We should see if there’s a kitchen or something. I’m getting hungry.” Kuroo’s stomach grumbled and both of them chuckled.

“Is anyone even good at cooking? I know you aren’t.” Kenma and Kuroo left the room, heading towards the room that had a knife and fork on the sign.

“I dunno. Sawamura seems capable. And I think Akaashi can make some stuff.” Kuroo shrugged, pushing open the door. The room was a large cafeteria with several tables and chairs. Most of the others were lounging around, talking amongst each other.

“Hey, Kuroo! Kenma! Michimiya and Suga are starting dinner.” Daichi greeted them from his seat near the head of one of the tables. He was sitting next to Oikawa and Iwaizumi, one of them seemed to be still pouting about the room arrangements.

“Ah, so we do have some chefs among us.” Kuroo grinned as the two of them joined the group at the table.

“Suga’s parents aren’t home at night most weekdays, so he learned how to cook. Michimiya got an A in home ec. I have been officially kicked out of the kitchen and Bokuto got scolded for trying to eat the ingredients.” Daichi glanced over at the teen sulking outside the kitchen door.

“I got this.” Kuroo stood up, strolling over to Bokuto and sitting next to him. The two immediately started a conversation, Kuroo nudging Bokuto’s shoulder roughly and Bokuto pushing him right back. Kenma hesitated before pulling out his 3DS, turning it on.

“Oh, did you find that in your room?” Iwaizumi asked. Kenma nodded, starting a new game.

“There’s lots of mystery games in my room. I think he wants me to use one of their plots to kill someone. I don’t really care for that stuff. I’d rather solve mysteries than make them.” Kenma felt his face burning. He didn’t usually talk to people without Kuroo (the exception being his own teammates and Hinata), but the group he was with seemed okay enough.

“I’ve never been good at video games. Most of Karasuno are terrible. We were stuck on a level from some PSP game for three weeks before Tanaka’s sister took her PSP back.” Daichi chuckled at the memory.

“I’m only good at fighting games. Oikawa’s decent at the older ones, like Pac-Man and Gattaca. I know Hanamaki and Matsukawa like playing rhythm games.” Iwaizumi sighed. Oikawa suddenly perked up.

“OH! Wait Iwa-chan, you’re a genius! We were going to text Makki and Mattsun when we were done playing, right? So all we have to do is wait for them to not get our text, then get worried, and then we’ll be saved!” Oikawa grinned. Iwaizumi shook his head.

“Don’t you remember, idiot? The game testing was supposed to go for a full week. They could easily assume we weren’t supposed to text anyone to avoid spoilers or some shit.” Iwaizumi reminded him. Oikawa’s smile fell and he pouted.

“So we’re stuck here for at least a week? What are we even supposed to do? They gave me movies but nothing to watch them with!” Oikawa sighed, leaning his head on one hand.

“Da-da-da-daaa! Here’s the Miracle Shiratorizawa boys, here to save the day!” They all jumped as Tendou laid himself down on the table in front of them.

“Tendou. That is not sanitary. You should not lie down where we will eat.” Ushijima scolded, before nodding in greeting to all of them. Tendou sat up, pouting.

“You’re no fun Wakatoshi.” He stood up, draping himself over the tall ace.

“What do you mean ‘save the day’? Did you find the exit?” Akaashi asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No. But we found what looks to be a theater of some sort. There is a projector and DVD player in a room above it, so we should be able to watch movies if we have copies.” Ushijima explained. Oikawa brightened and Iwaizumi groaned.

“Oh no.” Iwaizumi’s head hit the table with a thud as Oikawa eagerly smacked his arm.

“Iwa-chan! We can watch my movies! And on a big screen!” He practically squealed. Iwaizumi groaned louder and the others laughed.

“As long as they aren’t too scary. Kuroo doesn’t like scary movies.” Kenma heard a shout of protest from Kuroo and the table laughed.

“Don’t worry, his movies aren’t scary. Just awful. Not to mention he can probably recite every line by heart.” Iwaizumi snorted. Before Oikawa could answer, the kitchen door opened.

“Alright, since there’s a lot of us you have to plate yourselves. But food is ready!” It was like training camp all over again, all the guys practically sprinting into the kitchen. Kenma waited for the mob to die down before joining the line.

“I hope you made a lot of food. Akaashi and Bokuto can eat more than their entire team combined.” Kenma warned Suga as he walked by. Sugawara laughed.

“I know, I saw them at training camp. We made plenty. There’s a lot of food and the weird bear popped in and told us it all gets refreshed in the morning, so we won’t starve to death.” He explained. Kenma nodded as he grabbed his plate, serving himself some rice and meat.

“We should go over all our information after we’re done eating. Then we can see about finding a way out.” Michimiya suggested as the three carried their plates out into the cafeteria.

“That’s a good idea. But we should eat first. There’s no way those boys will be able to talk clearly while shoveling their faces.” Sugawara laughed. Kenma wrinkled his nose as he spotted Bokuto and Akaashi shoveling large plates of food into their mouths. He took his spot back next to Sawamura and Kuroo, setting his plate down.

“You really need to eat more, Kenma.” Kuroo scolded. Kenma frowned, taking a bite of his rice.  
“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“….do not.”

“do too.”


	4. Chapter 1- School Life

“Alright. Let’s go over what we know.” Sugawara began as Michimiya, Misaki and Mika began clearing plates.

“There’s no way upstairs. Monokuma said that they will be unlocked as we clear game levels. I assume that means if we have trials and clear them, the various parts of the school will be unlocked.” Akaashi began. Bokuto nodded.

“I was gonna try to break the bars, since they’re technically not doors, but Akaashi said I shouldn’t since it would probably not work.” Bokuto pouted slightly.

“The dorms are pretty nice. A decent sized bed and personal bathrooms. But apparently the water turns off after 10 PM so if you want to shower, do it beforehand. It also seems that we got a bit of a personal touch to our rooms. Kenma has video games in his bookshelves and from what I heard earlier, Oikawa has some shitty alien movies.” Kuroo snickered as Oikawa reached over to smack his arm.

“They are not shitty, Kuroo-chan! They are classic films!” He argued. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and pulled Oikawa back into his seat.

“Wakatoshi and I found a sweet-ass theater with comfy chairs and a huge projector screen. There a room up above that has a projector and DVD player so we can watch movies and cuddle and all that fun stuff. But you gotta have the key to open the projector room. We left it hanging on the doorknob.” Tendou was half-lying in Ushijima’s lap as he spoke.

“There’s microwaveable popcorn in the kitchen. We should have a movie night.” Michimiya suggested as she sat down at the table. Kenma looked around, noting that in general, the group seemed to enjoy the idea.

“I think the only thing left to report is the kitchen. Monokuma said that the food is always restocked in the morning, so we won’t have to worry about that. But the cafeteria is locked after 10 PM. I guess that’s supposed to be our bedtime.” Sugawara chuckled.

“The bear said that he’ll make an announcement saying when its 10 PM.” Mika added. Daishou scowled.

“Found that little tidbit after the cats left us to deal with him.” He grumbled. Kuroo just smirked at him.

“And look how well you handled it.” Kuroo purred. Kenma pinched Kuroo’s side, causing the boy to yelp.

“Stop instigating arguments.” He muttered, turning back to his game.

“Kenma’s right. We need to work together here and that won’t happen if we can’t put petty rivalries aside.” Iwaizumi sent Oikawa a pointed look, which he ignored.

“Why don’t we get started with the movie night? We can pop some popcorn, grab movies, and set up the projector.” Sugawara suggested, standing up.

“I’ll help with popcorn!” Bokuto immediately offered.

“No. You’ll eat it all. You go help set up the theater. We can take some blankets from our beds and make it comfortable.” Akaashi suggested before Bokuto could fully deflate.

“Dude! I have the fluffiest blanket on my bed! Let’s get going!” Bokuto practically sprinted out of the cafeteria, excited. Oikawa stood up as well.

“I’ll get my movies. Some people need to be properly educated.” Oikawa sent Kuroo a pointed look before walking out, Iwaizumi on his tail.

“Tendou and I will go get the projector started. We should all reconvene at the theater when we have what we need.” Ushijima suggested. This seemed like a good idea and the group separated once again. Kenma and Kuroo went back to their rooms, grabbing some of their blankets and pillows before heading to the theater.

“Wow. This is huge!” Kuroo whistled as they walked down the small stairs. The seats had armrests they could pull up, which they did as they began making a small nest about halfway down the theater. Kenma didn’t like being too close to the screen and Kuroo didn’t like being too far. They always compromised on the middle. Bokuto was right up front, making a nest of his own with fluffy blankets. Daishou and Mika claimed a corner in the back, Daishou turning red when Kuroo sent him a knowing smirk. There was an anime girl blanket on top of a quilt in another row, as well as some pillows.

“That’s probably Tendou’s. I heard him rambling to Ushijima about Shounen Jump earlier.” Kuroo explained. Kenma nodded as Sawamura, Sugawara and Michimiya walked in, pushing a cart with several bowls of popcorn.

“There’s no bags or anything so we just made a lot of bowls.” Sawamura explained from behind the armful of blankets. He and Sugawara went and settled in the same row as Kuroo and Kenma, but the other side. Michimiya grabbed a bowl of popcorn and followed them, the three crows settling down in their own blanket nest. Tendou soon appeared from a back door, grinning.

“Alright movie-people! If you’re gonna makeout, keep it quiet. We’re getting the movie going!” Almost on cue, the lights went out and the projector started. As the film began, Iwaizumi and Oikawa joined the group in their own nest. Ushijima followed soon afterwards, settling next to Tendou.

“This better not be scary.” Kuroo mumbled as Kenma leaned against him, pulling out his 3DS but lowering the brightness setting.

Turns out, the movie was somewhat scary. Scary enough for Kuroo to be clinging to Kenma the whole time. The theater had erupted with screams as the alien burst out of the guy’s chest. Kenma winced as Kuroo pulled him closer, eyes wide. Their popcorn had been spilt long ago.

“If it’s scary, we could just not watch.” Kenma suggested, but Kuroo shook his head.

“Daishou would see us leave. We’re staying.” He said firmly. Kenma sighed and turned back to his game. By the time the movie ended, several of the teens were cowering in blankets. He was pretty sure Bokuto (poor Bokuto who chose to sit all the way in the front), was crying.

“O-Okay. Let’s take a quick break so we can go to the bathroom and all that. Then we can start another movie. P-Preferably one with less… chest-bursting.” Sugawara suggested. It was a nearly unanimous decision (Oikawa was very adamant that it wasn’t scary) and they chose to watch E.T. next.

“I gotta go pee.” Kuroo stood up, stretching. Kenma stood up as well with a sigh.

“Y-You don’t have to go with me, kitten. I-I’m a big boy.” Kuroo muttered, but it was obvious he didn’t want to go alone.

“I have to go too.” Kenma lied, taking Kuroo’s hand. The two followed a few others out of the theater, heading to one of the bathrooms nearby.

“I don’t know how Oikawa can like those movies so much. They’re terrifying.” Michimiya shivered, waiting outside the bathroom, presumably for Sawamura and Sugawara.

“There’s a few games based off the movies that are scarier. I guess that’s why it wasn’t so bad for me.” Kenma shrugged, leaning against the wall. Eventually the guys left the bathroom and the group returned the theater. Tendou was asleep in both his and Ushijima’s blankets, his hair poking out of the cocoon. Mika and Daishou were also asleep on each other, snuggling.

“That’s actually kind of cute and it disgusts me.” Kuroo muttered. Kenma snickered as they went back to their nest.

“Is everyone back yet?” Iwaizumi asked from his spot in the theater, Oikawa sitting next to him.

“I think so. Is Ushijima-san ready to press play?” Sugawara asked, grabbing another bowl of popcorn before sitting down.

“Probably. Someone want to go tell him we’re ready? I would but I have an idiot stuck on me.” He poked Oikawa, who swatted his hand away.

“I got it.” Kuroo stood up, letting the blanket fall off him.

“I’ll go with you.” Kenma stood up as well. The two headed up to the room, climbing the stairwell.

“Hey, Ushiima! We’re ready to go!” Kuroo called, knocking on the door. He frowned as nobody responded.

“Ushijima?” Kuroo reached for the knock, but it was locked.

“Didn’t Tendou say there was a key?” Kenma asked. Kuroo looked around, using his cell phone’s flashlight.

“I don’t see one… Damn we can’t break locks either.” Kenma was starting to worry.

“K-Kuroo… What if…” Kenma trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Kuroo’s eyes widened as he began pounding on the door.

“Ushijima! Wakatoshi! OPEN THE DOOR!” He shouted. There was still no response and Kuroo swore.

“Kitten, there’s a toolkit in your room, yeah? Go get it. We’ll unscrew the hinges. It’s not breaking the lock so it’s not violating the rule.” Kuroo tried the doorknob again. Kenma nodded and hurried down the stairs. He ran into Sawamura, who was waiting outside the door.

“Kenma-san? What’s wrong?” He asked, seeing the fear in Kenma’s eyes.

“U-Ushijima-san isn’t answering when we knocked and the key is missing so we can’t unlock the door. T-There’s a toolkit in my room and Kuroo said to go get it.” Kenma said all in one breathe. Sugawara put a hand on Kenma’s shoulder, calming him down.

“I’ll go with you. Let’s hurry, yeah?” Kenma nodded and Sugawara followed him out of the theater. They practically ran to Kenma’s room, his phone already out and swiping the lock as they pushed their way in.

“Desk drawer. Third one from the top.” Sugawara hurried to the desk, grabbing the toolkit. They ran back to the theater, earning many confused looks from those still awake.

“Suga, what’s going on?” Sawamura asked, grabbing his arm. Kenma took the toolkit out of his hand and kept going, ignoring anyone’s questions. Kuroo was waiting impatiently, Bokuto now by his side, as Kenma hurried up the stairs.

“Here.” He handed Kuroo the toolkit before sitting down, panting for breath. He wasn’t much of a runner, even when training. Kuroo immediately began unscrewing the bolts on the door, Bokuto holding his phone up so he could see. It didn’t take too long and the two boys pushed the door in, the door landing inside the room with a loud SLAM!

“Ushijima!” Kuroo and Bokuto hurried into the room, Kenma standing up to follow. He bumped into Kuroo, who had barely taken a step into the room when he stopped.

“Kuroo why di-“ Kenma trailed off, eyes wide as he saw what made the two stop.

Ushijima was lying on the ground, eyes wide and glazed over. His head was bloody. The intercom began crackling before the damn bear flickered on screen.

“ _Ding-Dong Ding-Dong! A body has been discovered! Don’t worry, I’ll give you time to investigate before we have our class trial!”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We got a body, kiddos!  
> Rip farmer boy, we'll remember thee well  
> Next chapter is the Investigation and the one after that is the trial! Get your detective hats out!


	5. Chapter 1 Part 2- Investigation

“ _Ding-Dong Ding-Dong! A body has been discovered! Don’t worry, I’ll give you time to investigate before we have our class trial!”_

The announcement rang through his hair as Kenma grabbed Kuroo’s arm. Kuroo immediately pulled him close, but he kept staring at Ushijima.

“Kenma! Did you fin- Oh my god.” Sugawara’s hand clapped over his mouth as he froze in the doorway.

“He’s not…Ushijima-san isn’t dead…right?” Sugawara said softly, looking between the three already in the room.

“W-We didn’t check.” Bokuto’s eyes were wider than usual, unsure of what to do.

“I’ll check. Go…get the others. But don’t let Tendou in. He won’t…react well.” Bokuto hurried back downstairs as Sugawara pushed his way through, kneeling next to Ushijima. Kenma knew it didn’t matter. The announcement was made, there was no way he wasn’t dead. Sugawara’s face confirmed it, as he felt for a pulse.

“He’s dead.” Sugawara stood up, hands shaking. Kenma heard footsteps and more people began crowding the entranceway. Kuroo pulled Kenma further into the room, but into one of the farther corners as the others entered.

“Jesus Christ.” Terushima immediately looked away, running a hand through his hair. Misaki let out a shaky breath before leaving the room, a reasonable response. Mika let out a scream when she saw Ushijima and hid her face in Daishou’s shoulder. Daishou looked paler than usual and held her close.

“This is a joke right? Ushiwa-… Ushijima is gigantic and strong. How could…” Oikawa took a deep shaky breath before he turned away as well. Iwaizumi stared a bit before clicking his tongue, turning away.

“How do we know the bear didn’t do it?” Iwaizumi pointed out.

“ _Of coooourse I didn’t kill him! Why would I kill my own precious player?”_ Everyone jumped as Monokuma appeared out of nowhere, a black tablet in his arm.

“Uhhh why would you trap a bunch of teenagers in a school and make them kill each other?” Terushima pointed out.

“ _So much sass. And I didn’t MAKE your peer kill Ushijima. They did it aaaaalll by themselves. It’s nice footage. We’ll have our trial shortly, but first you need to investigate! First things first, the Monokuma file!”_ Sawamura stepped forward to take the tablet, the screen flickering to life.

“I-It’s got time and cause of death.” Sawamura skimmed the file before handing it to Sugawara.

“ _I figured you’ll need some help since none of you are doctors. Now, feel free to use your phones to take pictures of anything you think will help! The pictures can be pulled up later in the trial for everyone to see!”_ Monokuma explained. There was suddenly a loud shout and Terushima was roughly shoved out of the way as Tendou pushed his way through the crowd, Bokuto on his tail.

“Bro I’m telling you, you don’t want t-“

“WAKATOSHI!” Tendou pulled out of Bokuto’s grip, kneeling next to the body.

“W-Wakatoshi? C-Come on! Now isn’t the time to start developing a sense of humor! Wake up!” He shook Ushijima roughly. Tendou turned Ushijima’s head towards him, slapping his face.

“I said WAKE UP Wakatoshi!” Tendou’s face was covered in tears. Kenma could hear Michimiya crying from outside, and it looked like several others were crying as well.

“Please…w-wake up Wakatoshi…” Tendou’s voice cracked as he pulled his hand away, seeing the blood on it. He went silent, eyes wide.

“You… _THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!”_ Tendou suddenly roared, leaping towards Monokuma. Luckily, Bokuto was there to grab him and hold him back. Terushima and Kuroo immediately ran to help, the three of them restraining the tall middle blocker.

“D-Dude! You can’t attack the bear! It’s in the rules!” Bokuto huffed as Tendou tried to get out of their hold.

“ _Everyone is so quick to assume it was the bear. Geeez. Trust me, if it comes down to me having to off one of ya, there won’t even be a body left to see! Upupupupupu~!”_ Monokuma laughed before vanishing, leaving the room in awkward silence aside from Tendou’s sobs.

“I’m gonna take him…somewhere else.” Terushima put an arm around Tendou, the usual cocky look gone and replaced with a more somber expression.

“I’ll go with them. Make some hot chocolate.” Misaki took Tendou’s hand and the two led him out of the room. Kenma took a deep breath before taking the Monokuma File, reading it.

“Time of death: 8:10 PM. Cause of death: Blunt force trauma. Other wounds: broken wrist and bruises on his arms and legs.” Kenma read aloud.

“So one of us actually killed him?” Michimiya asked, eyes wide. Kenma nodded, not looking up at anyone.

“That’s the only reason we’d have a trial. Usually in these games the group ends up splitting up and searching on their own, with someone staying behind to watch the scene of the crime so the culprit can’t come back and mess with it.” Kenma explained, glancing back down at Ushijima before looking away again.

“I’ll stay with the body.” Akaashi volunteered. Iwaizumi stepped forward as well.   
“Same. Between the two of us, we can handle anyone who comes to try and mess things up.” Iwaizumi folded his arms, sending a glare across the room.

“The rest of us should start investigating. Use your phone’s camera and flashlight to find clues. Anything could be helpful, even if it’s just a hunch.” Sugawara warned. Everyone pulled out their phones and most of the teens left the room in a hurry. Kenma hesitate, looking around.

“What’s on your mind, kitten?” Kuroo asked, glancing down at him.

“The door was locked. I wonder if the key was in here. If not, we should find it.” He explained. Kuroo nodded, turning on his phone flashlight to look under the desk the projector was on.

“It wouldn’t be, ya know, ON him, right?” Kuroo suddenly asked warily, glancing at the body. Akaashi and Iwaizumi both looked down at the body as well.

“I can look if you want.” Iwaizumi finally said, kneeling next to the body. He hesitated before muttering an apology and searching Ushijima’s pockets.

“Nope. No key in here. You might need to ask Tendou, he’s the only one who knows what the key looks like.” Iwaizumi wiped his hands on his pants. Kuroo stood up, stretching.

“Alright Kitten, where do you want to look?” He asked. Kenma looked around the room.

“Do you guys see any blood anywhere?” Akaashi suddenly asked, frowning.

“No…why?” Kuroo asked after making a quick 360 around the room.

“Well, I didn’t notice until Tendou touched him, but Ushijima has blood on his head. If there’s no blood here, he must have been moved from somewhere else.” Akaashi explained. Kenma nodded, peeking out the door into the dark stairwell.

“Can we turn the lights on in the stairs?” He asked. Kuroo looked at the switchboard and began fiddling with controls. Suddenly lights filled the stairwell. Kenma slowly made his way down, pausing at the bottom as he saw a red stain on the wall.

“I found blood.” Kenma called. Kuroo followed him down the stairs, taking a quick picture with his phone.

“Ushijima’s a big guy, yeah? The wall is only a few feet from the end of the stairs. He could’ve tripped and rolled down them, hit his head at the bottom?” Kuroo suggested, looking up the stairs, then at the bloodstain.

“Maybe.” It was a decent theory. But Kenma had a feeling Ushijima didn’t trip. He walked out of the stairwell, looking around the now-lit theater. He held his phone up, taking a picture from the top, before making his way to the bottom and taking a picture from there as well.

“This’ll give us a good idea of where everyone was sitting during the movie.” Kenma explained as Kuroo gave him a confused look.

“Ohhh. You really play a lot of these games, don’t you?” Kuroo chuckled a bit, ruffling Kenma’s hair. He scowled and pulled away.

“Let’s go. We need to ask Tendou if he knows where the key to the projector room is.” Kenma and Kuroo began walking out of the theater, but stopped when they heard shouts.

“How _DARE_ you!” Oikawa was screaming. Daishou was standing in front of him with his usual smirk, no doubt the cause of the screams. Mika stood nearby, looking between the two.

“What’s the problem here?” Kuroo asked, arms folded. Daishou rolled his eyes, his smirk dropping as the two approached.

“This asshole thinks I did it.” Oikawa spat, fists clenched. Kenma bit his lip, looking down at the ground. The thought had crossed his mind as well, considering how much Oikawa didn’t like Ushijima.

“I’m simply saying that out of all of us here, the only one with any sort of grudge against Ushijima would be you, Iwaizumi, and Bokuto. Frankly Bokuto is as smart as a piece of wood and that just leaves you and your boytoy.” Daishou explained. Suddenly, before anyone knew what was going on, Oikawa had punched Daishou in the face. Kuroo immediately stepped in between them as Mika grabbed Daishou’s arm, investigating his soon-to-be black eye.

“That is enough. We are in the middle of investigating a murder, we don’t need to turn on each other any more than we already have.” Kuroo snapped. Oikawa scowled before turning and storming off, heading back into the theater.

“Did you seriously need to pick a fight right now?” Kuroo turned to Daishou, glaring. Daishou glared right back, but Mika pulled him away.

“That’s enough Su-chan. You said you wanted to investigate so let’s go investigate.” She sent Kuroo an apologetic smile before pulling Daishou away.

“…honestly surprised you weren’t the first one to punch Daishou.” Kenma muttered, pulling Kuroo in the opposite direction, towards the cafeteria.

“I’m just as surprised as you are, kitten.” Kuroo grumbled as the two pushed open the door to the cafeteria. Tendou was sitting in a table in the corner, staring at a mug of hot chocolate with Terushima and Misaki sitting next to him. He had a blanket on, presumably one from the theater. It looked like Bokuto’s, since he was known for his incredibly warm and fluffy blankets. Misaki looked up as they approached.

“How’s investigating?” She asked softly.

“It’s going. We just have to ask Tendou something real quick.” Misaki’s face hardened and Kenma saw a familiar protective look that he’s seen on Yaku.

“It’s just about the key to the projector room.” Kenma quickly explained. Tendou glanced up at them, eyes red.

“We left it on the doorknob during the movie so we wouldn’t lose it in the blankets. I was falling asleep, so Wakatoshi offered to go get the next movie going himself. I-I should’ve gone with him. Oh my god why didn’t I go with him?” Tendou’s eyes filled with tears again and Misaki immediately pulled him into a hug, sending Kuroo and Kenma a firm look that meant they should leave, immediately. Kuroo pulled Kenma out of the cafeteria in a hurry, wanting to avoid the wrath of the protective girl.

“Okay, so the key is still MIA. We should fi- Bro?” Kuroo trailed off as they walked through the hall full of dorms. Bokuto jumped in surprised, the door of the dorm shutting behind him.

“Jesus, don’t scare me like that.” Bokuto let out a breath, hand over his chest.

“What are you doing around the dorms?” Kuroo asked, the two approaching.

“Investigatin’ stuff. I mean, I know I’m not the best at this kind of stuff but I kinda had a thought and Suga said anything could be useful so I went to check it out. AND it turns out all good cuz look what I found!” Bokuto grinned as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key on a red cord.

“Is that…the key to the projector room?” Kuroo asked, taking the key and examining it.

“Uh well I’m not sure. I was gonna go test it when you guys caught me.” Kenma glanced up at the dorm and frowned.

“Bokuto, how did you get in Oikawa’s dorm?” He asked. Bokuto blinked as Kuroo’s eyes went wide, the tall teen turning to see that yes indeed, it was Oikawa’s dorm they had caught Bokuto leaving.

“Oh, I asked Monokuma to let me in. Since it’s important to the game and all that. His phone number is in our contact list.” Bokuto explained, pulling out his phone.

“That seems like a violation of our privacy.” Kenma muttered. Bokuto shrugged as he pulled open his pictures.

“Well murder seems like a pretty big exception. I went in Iwaizumi’s room too, not to mention Ushijima’s and Tendou’s. I overheard Daishou fighting with Oikawa and kinda realized that out of anyone who could or would kill Ushijima, it’d be someone who knew him, right? Motive and all that stuff. And since most of us kinda just met him, I figured the Miyagi kids were probably the most suspicious. Except Karasuno, cuz they’re just coming back so there’s no way they would’ve met people from Shiratorizawa before.” Bokuto finally paused for air, allowing Kuroo to interrupt.

“Bo. That was probably the smartest thing I’ve ever heard you say, and you followed it up with several other smart things.” Kuroo clapped a hand on Bokuto’s shoulder.

“…is that a compliment or an insult?” Bokuto asked. Before Kuroo could answer, the intercom crackled.

“ _Ding-Dong Ding-Dong! Investigation time is over! Head to the red doors next to the gym to go to the trial room!”_ Kenma shivered, knowing that whatever came next would be worse than discovering Ushijima.

“Let’s get this over with, Kitten.” Kuroo pulled Kenma close as the three of them headed to the doors. Iwaizumi was standing next to Oikawa, glaring at Daishou who glared right back until Mika smacked his arm. Terushima and Misaki were still hovering around Tendou, and Akaashi walked over to the trio as they entered.

“I was wondering where you had run off too, Bokuto-san.” Akaashi seemed indifferent but Kenma could tell he was worried.

“I was helpful Akaashi!” Bokuto brightened, looking proud of himself. Akaashi raised an eyebrow and glanced at Kenma, who nodded.

“Well. I’ll be sure to pay attention to when your help comes into play.” Akaashi turned, Bokuto following him like a puppy. Soon the rest of the group appeared and the doors opened.

“ _Alrighty, come right in!”_ There was obvious hesitation before Sawamura took a step into the room, followed by Sugawara and Michimiya. The group squeezed their way into the large room and the doors shut behind them. Suddenly there was a loud rumbling noise and the room began to descend.

_This is it… One of us killed Ushijima Wakatoshi and we have to figure out who. Let’s just hope we can._

 


	6. Chapter 1 Part 3- Trial

The elevator doors opened again and revealed a room with trial stands all in a circle.

“ _Make sure you find your proper stand!_ ” Monokuma was sitting on a judge’s chair, a big red button in front of him. Kenma managed to find his spot, unfortunately not next to Kuroo. He was in between Akaashi and Sugawara. Kuroo was in between Iwaizumi and Tendou. There was an awkwardly empty stand with a picture of Ushijima’s face crossed off in between Sawamura and Michimiya.

“Um… can we get rid of this?” Michimiya asked, looking uncomfortably at Ushijima’s spot.

“ _Of course not! It wouldn’t be fair for Ushijima not to participate just cuz he’s dead!”_ Monokuma grinned. Tendou’s fists tightened on the stand in front of him. Misaki reached over and took his hand, squeezing it firmly.

“We’ll figure out who did this, Tendou.” She said softly. He nodded, a determined look on his face.

“ _Alrighty let’s explain the trial rules one more time! Someone among you is the killer of Ushijima Wakatoshi, and it’s your job to figure it out. You can argue amongst yourselves to figure out the who, the how, they why and all that fun stuff. When you’re ready to vote, the majority rules! If your guess is correct, the killer will be punished! If you’re wrong, everyone else will be punished instead!”_ Monokuma explained. Kenma looked down at the screen in front of his stand and tapped it. It lit up and Kenma saw the same pictures he took with his phone on the screen.

“ _Your phones automatically connect to your stands, so all your photos will appear! You can choose which ones to share as the trial goes on. Now, let’s get started!_ ” Monokuma leaned back in his chair.

“Um. I guess we should start with how Ushijima died? That seems like a good place to start.” Sawamura suggested.

“The file thingy said it was ‘blunt force trauma’, right? So someone whacked him on the head?” Bokuto frowned, the Monokuma File flickering open on their screens.

“Not necessarily. Blunt force trauma just means he hit his head on something. It doesn’t always mean that he was hit with something.” Akaashi explained.

“So what did he hit his head on?” Terushima asked, flicking through his pictures.

“The wall at the bottom of the stairs.” Kenma tapped the photo he had taken with Kuroo, the bloodstain appearing on everyone’s screens.

“It’s the only place with blood, and if Ushijima-san fell down the stairs, that would explain the rest of his wounds as well. Most people try to catch themselves when they fall, which would be why he had a broken wrist.” Kuroo explained.

“Wait. So Wakatoshi just…tripped? Just like that?” Tendou asked, shocked.

“If he fell and died, how would he have gotten back up to the projector room?” Sugawara frowned.

“He didn’t fall. He got pushed. And whoever did it then carried him back upstairs.” Daishou suggested.

“I hate to agree with anything Daishou says-“

“Rude”

 “-BUT I think he’s right. And whoever it was locked the door behind them so we couldn’t get in.” Kuroo finished as if Daishou hadn’t interrupted. Michimiya bit her lip.

“But wouldn’t there have been a loud noise if Ushijima fell down the stairs? One of us surely would’ve heard it.” She pointed out.

“Ushijima-san died at 8:10 PM. That’s around the time most of you went for a bathroom break or to make more popcorn. A few of us were still asleep in the theater, so it would be understandable if we didn’t hear the noise.” Mika explained.

“So the only ones in the theater who didn’t go to the bathroom were… Daishou, Mika, Tendou, Iwaizumi and Oikawa.” Sugawara remembered.

“And out of those, Daishou and Tendou were the ones I remember being asleep for sure. The theater was dark though, so I guess the others could’ve been asleep too.” Misaki frowned, thinking.

“I thought I heard a noise, but considering we just watched a scary movie I thought my mind was playing tricks on me.” Mika admitted, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Same. I thought someone was pulling a prank, trying to scare us.” Iwaizumi scowled.

“So we’re all in agreement that Ushijima-san was pushed down the stairs while we went on a bathroom break? Which clears most of us as suspects since we were all together.” Kuroo said. Daishou narrowed his eyes.  
“Are you saying one of us in the theater pushed Ushijima-san without anyone else in the theater noticing?” He asked, folding his arms.

“That’s pretty possible actually.” Kenma pulled up the picture he had taken of the whole theater, showing where everyone had been sitting.

“See, Daishou and Mika were sitting in the back corner away from the projector room door, while Tendou was sleeping towards the middle and Iwaizumi and Oikawa were near the front. Any of you could’ve moved without the others noticing in the dark. Iwaizumi and Oikawa wouldn’t have noticed people behind them moving, while Daishou and Mika wouldn’t have seen someone moving in the dark all the way out of their perception range.” Kenma explained, circling the spots in the theater they had been sitting.

“Damn. Kenma, you really play a lot of detective games.” Kuroo whistled. Kenma’s face flushed as he looked down.

“Shut up. Anyone else could’ve noticed that too.” He muttered.

“So we’re back to five people. What else is there? We know Ushijima-san was pushed down the stairs, carried back up, and locked in the projector room. Wait, how did you guys get in anyways?” Terushima asked.

“I had Kenma get a toolkit he had in his desk back in the dorms so we could unscrew the hinges. The key to the room was missing and we can’t break locks, so we didn’t have much other choice.” Kuroo explained. Kenma blinked before turning to Bokuto.  
“Wait. Bokuto-san. Didn’t you find the key later?” Bokuto cocked his head before his eyes filled with realization.

“Oh shit yeah! I totally forgot!” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the key. Tendou’s eyes widened.

“That’s totally the projector room key! We left it on the doorknob though. Where did you find it?” He demanded. Bokuto shifted awkwardly under all the attention.

“Um… I found it under Oikawa’s bed.” He mumbled. All eyes flickered to Oikawa, whose mouth dropped open.

“Excuse me?! How the hell did you even get in my room? That’s a violation of privacy!” He shrieked. Bokuto flinched and looked away.

“Um, I figured that if anyone had something important to hide, they’d hide it under their bed, right? I mean, guys do that with their p- magazines.” Bokuto quickly corrected himself as the girls glared at him.

“So you managed to get into Oikawa’s room, which is locked and can only be opened by his phone, and found the projector room key?” Iwaizumi scoffed.

“Bokuto-san, how did you get in Oikawa’s room?” Akaashi asked. Bokuto blinked.

“Oh. I asked Monokuma. He’s in our contact list after all. And this seemed kinda important for investigating. He unlocked everyone’s room. BUT I only went in four of them.” Bokuto quickly reassured them, Mika about to tear his head off.

“Whose rooms did you go in, other than Oikawa’s?” Sawamura asked. Bokuto frowned, thinking.

“Let’s see… I went in Iwaizumi’s too, and Ushijima’s and then Tendou’s. I took pictures of their rooms.” He tapped the screen and the pictures loaded on the screen. Iwaizumi’s room was basic, with an alien plushie on the bed and Godzilla posters on the wall. Oikawa’s room had Star Wars posters on the wall and multiple plush pillows on the bed. Ushijima’s had plants in pots and a volleyball on his desk. Tendou’s room had posters of various animes and a body pillow on the bed.

“Why exactly did you go into our rooms?” Tendou asked, sounding more tired than annoyed as he ran a hand through his hair.

“Well, if anyone could’ve killed Ushijima, it’d have to be someone he knew. Cuz he’s HUGE and could probably fight off anyone. So that leaves the people from Miyagi. And I heard Daishou and Oikawa fighting so I started with them after looking through Ushijima’s and Tendou’s.” Bokuto explained.

“That’s… actually kind of genius.” Daishou admitted. Bokuto beamed, obviously proud of himself.

“So the projector room key was in Oikawa’s room. That’s pretty suspicious.” Terushima leaned on his stand, staring with narrowed eyes at Oikawa.

“Oh come on. If Bokuto could’ve gotten in my room, apparently anyone could have. And planting me as the suspect is the obvious choice.” Oikawa pointed out, scowling.

“But Monokuma only unlocked the rooms after Bokuto asked him, which was after Ushijima-san died.” Kenma shot back. Oikawa twitched, folding his arms.

“Okay, well how about this. As Bo-chan pointed out, Ushijima is a freakin’ giant. I have a bad knee, which is common knowledge. How would I have carried him up the stairs?” He asked.

“You could’ve had help.” Kuroo shot a pointed look at Iwaizumi, who glared at him.

“Why the fuck would I help with murder? Kozume-san clearly explained earlier there’s no benefit to being an accomplice.” He snapped.

“But you’re very close to Oikawa. I think you’d do that for him.” Daishou smirked.

“….I don’t think Oikawa did it.” Mika suddenly spoke up, frowning. All eyes turned to her.

“I don’t really remember… but I just feel like we’re missing something.” She sighed, obviously frustrated with herself. Kenma looked back down at the pictures, frowning.

“Mika’s right.” He suddenly said, eyes wide. He could feel the attention on him, but at the moment he didn’t care.

“Why does Iwaizumi’s bed have an alien plushie on it?” Kenma asked. Akaashi blinked, confused.

“Why does that matter? Weren’t our dorms made for us?” He frowned. Kenma nodded.

“Exactly. But Iwaizumi’s room is filled with Godzilla merchandise, so why is a random alien in it? But Oikawa’s room is filled with alien stuff.” Kenma pointed out, circling the two rooms. Terushima clicked his tongue.

“Maybe Iwaizumi felt lonely at night and Oikawa offered a plushie to hug.” He snickered. Iwaizumi growled at him.

“Or, Iwaizumi wasn’t staying in his own room.” Sugawara said slowly. Kenma nodded, looking up at Kuroo.

“Remember when we found the dorms? Monokuma put you next to Daishou and you were upset.”  Kuroo’s eyes widened as he remembered the scene.

_“It’s next door, the rooms are soundproof so murder would work excellently and not to mention Monokuma probably did that so you’d be more likely to argue and then kill each other. I bet Oikawa is next to Ushijima.” A sudden screech proved his point, followed by an “IWA-CHAN SWITCH ROOMS WITH ME!” Kenma rolled his eyes and tried to open the door to his room._

“Oikawa had switched rooms with Iwaizumi so he wouldn’t have to room next to Ushijima.” Kuroo recalled.

“So the key wasn’t found under Oikawa’s bed. It was found under Iwaizumi’s!” Sawamura realized. All eyes turned on the shorter teen, who scowled.

“Seriously? If we had switched rooms, we wouldn’t be able to unlock the rooms we were staying in. It only unlocks to our own phones, remember?” Iwaizumi pointed out.

“Iwaizumi’s pretty buff. He could’ve carried Ushijima up the stairs.” Terushima folded his arms.

“Not to mention, if Oikawa had a problem with Ushijima, Iwaizumi would’ve had one too.” Daishou smirked. Iwaizumi shot him a glare.

“For the last time. I didn’t murder anyone!” Suddenly a ringing sound went off. Michimiya’s hand was over her mouth, her phone at her ear. Iwaizumi was quiet as he pulled a ringing phone out of his pocket.

“I-I called Oikawa’s number. I thought, if they switched rooms maybe they switched phones too, so they could unlock the dorms.” She breathed, eyes wide and filled with tears.

“So it’s confirmed. Iwaizumi switched rooms with Oikawa, and so he’s the one who hid the projector room key.” Kuroo folded his eyes, not looking excited at all. None of them did, really.

“That doesn’t mean anything! So what if Iwa-chan hid a dumb key? It doesn’t mean he KILLED anyone!” Oikawa slammed his hands on the stand in front of him.

“It means he was the last one in the projector room, since nobody else could get in without a key until Kuroo and Kenma took the hinges off. Which means he’s the only one who could’ve killed Ushijima.” Daishou explained. Oikawa’s hands tightened on the wood in front of him.

“B-But…Iwa-chan…he wouldn’t do that!”

“Tooru! Enough.” Oikawa went quiet, eyes wide as he looked at his childhood friend.

“I-Iwa-chan?” Oikawa’s voice cracked as Iwaizumi wouldn’t meet his gaze.

“That’s enough Tooru. It’s fine.” Iwaizumi looked up, his expression determined but also accepting.

“You’re all right. I did it. I killed Ushijima.”


	7. Chapter 1- End of Chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning! The execution is in this one! If you aren't one for painfully ironic deaths, just skip to "What the fuck was that?!"

“I killed Ushijima.” The room went silent as everyone took in what Iwaizumi said.

“I-Iwa…chan?” Oikawa seemed shocked, eyes wide.

“How did you do it without Oikawa knowing?” Bokuto asked, frowning.

“Oikawa had gone to put in the next movie and I followed him. He got in an argument with Ushijima and left in a huff, I doubt he even noticed me. I went up to the room and offered to start the movie for him. He went to go back down and I just…pushed.” Iwaizumi ran a hand through his hair, tugging slightly.

“You carried him back up and locked the door, took the key and went to the room you could unlock and hid it. But you didn’t expect Bokuto to search your dorm, and you probably thought you’d have more time to think of a good alibi but we unlocked the door too quick.” Kuroo finished.

“That’s…why?! Why would you kill him?!” Michimiya asked, looking horrified.

“Because he was going to kill Oikawa!” Iwaizumi slammed his fist on his stand. Oikawa’s eyes went wide.

“…what?” He breathed, voice cracking.

“I heard him talking to Tendou while we were exploring the school. He said ‘I will get the game started, I just need to get Oikawa.’ What else was I supposed to do? Sit back and let him murder my best friend!?” Iwaizumi snapped. Tendou suddenly leapt at him, barely held back by Kuroo.

“You _idiot_! You absolute _IDIOT!_ Wakatoshi was talking about VOLLEYBALL, not fucking MURDER!” Tendou screamed, obviously trying to get at Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi’s eyes went wide.   
“W-what?” Tendou glared at him, gripping Kuroo’s arms.

“He had a volleyball in his room! And we already knew there was a gym! He wanted to play volleyball and he wanted Oikawa to fucking set for him! He was going to ‘get’ Oikawa to play!” Tendou explained, glaring at him.

“Oh my god.” Iwaizumi fell to his knees, head in his hands.   
“Out of context, it does sound suspicious. But going straight to murder is too far.” Misaki said quietly, hand over her mouth.

“I’m surprised Iwaizumi even bothered to try and hide his crime. After all, if he got away with it, Oikawa would’ve died anyways.” Daishou pointed out. Iwaizumi stiffened, having obviously not thought of that.

“I think we need to vote.” Kenma looked up at Monokuma, who was watching them silently.

“ _Oh, remembered I was here? Alrighty folks! It’s time to vote! Just click the face of whoever you think did it!_ ” On the screens in front of them, all of their faces appeared. Kenma took a deep breath before tapping Iwaizumi’s face. It didn’t take long for the votes to be counted. 13 votes for Iwaizumi and 1 for Oikawa.

“ _Well someone didn’t get the memo! Majority rules in the end anyways. And you are AB-SO-LUTE-LY CORRECT! Iwaizumi Hajime is the blackened who murdered Ushijima Waaakatoshi!”_ Monokuma cheered. Nobody else seemed excited about their ‘victory’. Oikawa looked like he was about to pass out, and Iwaizumi didn’t look much better.

“You _motherfucker_.” Tendou pulled out of Kuroo’s grasp and grabbed Iwaizumi, pulling him up by the front of his shirt.

“Tendou! Stop it!” Bokuto and Kuroo both ran forward, pulling the angry red head off him.

“You’re lucky you’re gonna die right now or I’d put you in a world of pain!” Tendou practically roared, eyes intense. Oikawa’s head shot up, his eyes red and tears streaming down his face.

“W-What?” He turned to Iwaizumi, who didn’t say anything.

“Rule 3: if caught, the killer gets punished.” Kenma recited softly. Oikawa shook his head before rushing to Iwaizumi.

“No. No way. I won’t let them!” He grabbed Iwaizumi, pulling him close. The guilty boy still didn’t say anything.

“You don’t really get a choice. It’s part of the game. And Iwaizumi lost.” Daishou folded his arms.

“ _That’s exactly right! Sounds like we should jump right to it then!”_ Monokuma pulled out a mallet and Oikawa’s eyes widened.

“Please…don’t…” He breathed, eyes locked on the big red button in front of the bear.

“ _Iiiiiit’s PUNISHMENT TIME!”_ The bear slammed his hammer down on the button. There was a sound of a door opening and suddenly a collar attached to a chain flew out, wrapping itself around Iwaizumi and pulling him from Oikawa’s arms.

“HAJIME!” Oikawa shrieked. Sawamura and Sugawara were quick to grab him before he could run after him. There was a sound and their screens all flickered to life, text appearing on screen.

_“Game Over! Iwaizumi Hajime has been found GUILTY. Time for Punishment!”_

They saw Iwaizumi fall, landing in a small city. He stood up with a wince, grabbing onto a building for support. The building crumpled in his hands. He managed to stand up as small helicopters approach, flying around his head. Their guns start whirring and small bullets fly at Iwaizumi, cutting his face and arms as he tries to cover himself. Miniature tanks roll up, one of them shooting a small harpoon into Iwaizumi’s leg. Iwaizumi visibly cries out in pain, taking a step back. His foot lands on another tank and he slips, crashing to the ground. He’s almost immediately surrounded by the tanks, the harpoons being shot across his body and tying him to the ground.

“Stop it…Please someone DO something!” Oikawa pleaded, pulling against Sugawara’s grip. The ash-haired boy held him close, his eyes wide as well.

“This is messed up.” Kuroo mumbled, wincing as the video on screen continued. Sirens started going off, and the small tanks on screen turned to fight the new threat. A giant lizard monster burst from the water near the city, roaring and breathing fire. The helicopters turned to shoot but were easily swatted down, some of them crashing onto Iwaizumi and cutting into his torso with their failing rotating blades. There’s a moment where the monster stops, taking in a deep breath. The moment is gone quickly as the lizard lets out a large fire breath, setting the entire city and Iwaizumi aflame. The video fades out as the ashes of the city rains down on the monster, who seems quite content with the result.

“What the fuck was that?!” Terushima was pale, running a hand through his hair.

“Jesus fuck. That’s the textbook definition of cruel and unusual punishment.” Even Daishou seemed upset at the execution. Mika was holding onto his arm tightly, nails digging into his sleeve.

“ _Are you all upset? I’m surprised. After all, you all were the ones to send him to it!”_ Monokuma pointed out happily.

“That’s what would’ve happened to us if we guessed wrong? Oh my god.” Michimiya sank to her knees, head in her hands. Oikawa was still a sobbing mess in Sugawara’s arms, clinging to the other setter. Kenma stayed silent. He’s seen footage of executions from game, but seeing it actually happen to someone he knew was entirely different.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Tendou snapped, but not at Oikawa. He was glaring at Monokuma.

“H-He just… He pushed him down some stairs! Like yeah it’s fucked up he murdered Wakatoshi but… That?! That was beyond worse!” Tendou was crying too, his hands gripping his hair.

“ _Wowie. I thought out of everyone, you’d at least be happy with the results. Guess it goes to show you can’t please everyone.”_ Monokuma popped out of existence again, the door to the elevator opening. The group was quiet, looking at each other.

“Let’s go…” Surprisingly, Oikawa was the first one to wipe his eyes, making his way to the elevator. He stumbled once, and Tendou grabbed his arm, standing him up straight. They exchanged looks before Oikawa slipped his hand in Tendou’s, the two walking to the elevator together.

“I guess out of everyone…they’d understand each other’s pain the most.” Kuroo wrapped an arm around Kenma, pulling him close. Kenma glanced up, but Kuroo wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“I won’t leave you like that.” Kenma mumbled, blushing slightly as Kuroo smiled down at him.

“It’s crazy how you can tell what’s worrying me without me having to say it.” He chuckled, the two entering the elevator.

“There should be more of the school unlocked tomorrow, if the game keeps copying the others.” Kenma said once everyone was in the elevator.

“We can go exploring later. I think we need a bit of time.” Akaashi was staying closer to Bokuto than usual, the white-hair boy having stayed silent since the execution ended.

“It’s late…we should probably go straight to bed. How anybody will be able to sleep is beyond me but…we should at least try.” Sugawara let out a shaky breath. Michimiya took his hand while Sawamura pulled the two closer to him. It seemed that after witnessing two of their group lose their best friends, everyone was a bit more grateful for their own. The elevator went back up in silence, eventually stopping and the doors pulling open with a creak.

“Let’s go kitten.” Kuroo murmured, leading Kenma back to the dorms. He hesitated in Kenma’s doorway after Kenma entered his dorm.

“What’re you waiting for? Come on.” Kenma grumbled, pulling Kuroo in and letting the door shut behind him. He was still shaken himself, and he definitely didn’t want to stay alone. Kuroo obviously felt the same way by the relieved look on his face. Kenma crawled into bed, Kuroo climbing in after him as they usually do when they sleep at each other’s house. Kenma snuggled against the familiar feeling of his tall friend, who slung an arm around him and pulled him close.

“I’ll keep you safe, Kitten. Promise.” Kuroo mumbled into the top of Kenma’s head. Kenma nodded, pulling the covers over them.

“Promise.”


	8. Chapter 2- School Life P1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current Survivors:  
> Oikawa, Daichi, Suga, Michimiya, Kuroo, Kenma, Tendou, Mika, Daishou, Terushima, Misaki, Bokuto, Akaashi  
> 13/15 survivors left

“ _Ding Dong! Its 7 AM! Time to wake up!”_ Kenma groaned as the intercom went off again. Unfortunately, Monokuma’s annoying voice was also the perfect alarm clock, which means there was no way he was falling asleep again. He moved to get out from under the covers, only to find he was trapped under an arm. His first thought was to panic, but then he remembered Kuroo had spent the night.   
“ _Wowie, isn’t this cute?_ ” Kenma let out a shocked yelp as Monokuma poked his head up from the side of the bed, pushing back against Kuroo, inadvertently pushing him off the bed. Kuroo woke with a groan, sitting up and rubbing his head.

“Whazzwron Kitten?” Kuroo mumbled, still half-asleep.

“What are you doing in my room?!” Kenma snapped, glaring at Monokuma.

“ _Can’t a Gamemaster be interested in the personal lives of his players?”_ The bear pouted. Kenma’s glare intensified.

“ _Fine fine. Sheesh you’re no fun. Your friends were trying to get in to tell you that breakfast was at 8. I got tired of hearing the knocking so I decided to pop in for a wake-up call.”_ Monokuma popped out of existence again and Kenma sighed, blowing hair out of his face as he stood up.

“I’ll go shower in my own dorm. Meet you at breakfast.” Kuroo yawned as he stood up, running a hand through his messy bedhead.

“If you see anyone in the hall, tell them I hate them.” Kenma grumbled, grabbing a change of clothes before going into the bathroom, ignoring Kuroo’s chuckles. For a random school that they’re trapped in, the showers were pretty nice. The water was nice and warm and the shampoo didn’t smell terrible. Kenma’s was vanilla-scented, one of his personal favorites. He stayed in the shower until the warm water turned cold, eventually turning it off and using one of the fluffy towels to dry off. He threw on the red pants and black sweatshirt he had found in his closet before drying his hair off. He made sure to grab his 3DS and phone before leaving his dorm. Kuroo was waiting for him, his hair still messy.

“Even after a shower, you can’t fix your bedhead.” Kenma slid his hand into Kuroo’s. Kuroo snorted, leading the way towards the cafeteria.

“It’s a work of art.” He explained, pushing the door open. Most of the teens were already there waiting.

“Ah, there you are! I was trying to wake you earlier to tell you about breakfast, but you never responded.” Sugawara greeted them. The two sat down at the table, where Terushima was half-asleep, head resting on his arms.

“Yeah, apparently you were so loud it annoyed Monokuma so he popped up to wake us up.” Kuroo chuckled. Sugawara’s eyes widened.   
“Oh, shit really? Sorry! I didn’t think I was that loud. Then again, I guess the rooms are soundproof so you wouldn’t have heard me anyways.” Sugawara smiled sheepishly.

“Moooorning.” Tendou yawned as he walked in, hair still down in his face.

“Freakin’ bear didn’t give me any hair gel.” He grumbled, sitting down next to Terushima.

“How did you style your hair without any gel?” Tendou asked, staring up at Kuroo. Kenma snickered as Kuroo gave him a warning look.

“It’s bedhead. Even after showering it just pops back like that.” Kenma explained, avoiding Kuroo’s attempt to cover his mouth. Tendou burst into laughter. Kenma saw some of the group smiling softly at Tendou, probably happy to see him laughing and smiling.

“S-Seriously? That’s amazing.” Terushima grumbled at Tendou’s loud voice, reaching up and smacking his arm.

“Shhhhoooooshhhhh. It’s too early.” Terushima whined, pulling the hood of his hoodie over his head.

“Don’t you have to wake up earlier for practice?” Sugawara pointed out. Misaki snickered.

“Yes, and he complains every single time.” She revealed. Sawamura laughed.

“We have a few players like that too. Luckily, some of our first and second years have enough energy for all of us.” Sugawara chuckled in agreement.

“Hey, hey, hey! I smell pancakes!” Bokuto opened the door with a loud yell, a bright grin on his face. Akaashi was right behind him, yawning.

“Wait you got hair gel?!” Tendou’s mouth dropped when he saw Bokuto’s hair spiked as usual.

“Yup. I found some in a storage closet when we were looking around on day 1. You need some?” The two owls sat down across from each other, Bokuto sitting next to Tendou.

“Yeah! They thought of everything in my room, except hair gel apparently.” Tendou pouted, leaning on his hand. The door to the cafeteria opened again and Oikawa walked in, sitting down next to Akaashi. His eyes were red and he started to reach up to rub them, only to drop his hands again.

“…do you wear contacts, Oikawa-san?” Akaashi asked. Oikawa blinked before nodding.

“Yeah, I forgot to take them out before falling asleep though.” He sighed. Kenma frowned.

“Did they give you the proper solution for them?” He asked. Oikawa bit his lip and looked down.

“Well I can’t exactly find that out, can I? Can’t exactly get into my own room.” He practically spat, a scowl on his face.

“You slept in Iwaizumi’s room last night? That seems…” Sugawara trailed off as Oikawa glared at him.

“I stayed with Ten-chan, so don’t worry your pretty little head.” He snapped.

“I’m just worried about you!” Sugawara frowned. The rest of the group was silently watching them, Terushima’s head moving back and forth like watching a ping-pong match.

“I can take care of myself! You aren’t my mom, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa stood up loudly, slamming his hands on the table. Sugawara went silent, eyes wide. Oikawa realized what he said and his shoulders slumped.

“I-I…” He looked around at everyone before running out of the room.

“I’m on it.” Tendou stood up, following Oikawa out of the room. The room sat in awkward silence, nobody knowing what to say.

“Food’s read- Oh wow. Did I miss something?” Michimiya paused in the doorway of the kitchen, seeing all the somber faces.

“No. It’s fine.” Sugawara stood up, heading into the kitchen. Bokuto immediately hopped up to follow him.

“Should we bring some to Oikawa-san and Tendou-san?” Akaashi asked, standing as well.

“Send Bo. Tendou needs hair gel and I think the two of them could use a bundle of sunshine.” Kuroo suggested. Akaashi nodded in agreement.   
“C’mon Kitten. The sooner we eat breakfast, the sooner we can go exploring.” Kuroo pointed out. Kenma sighed as he stood up.

“Oh yeah, the school has some more stuffed unlocked, right? I thought I saw some of the bars missing.” Mika walked out of the kitchen with a plate full of pancakes.

“So we can go exploring after breakfast. But first, those pancakes look godly.” Kuroo whistled, eyeballing her plate. She smirked at him as she sat down, taking a big bite.

“Maybe you should get your own then~.” She laughed. Kenma pulled on Kuroo’s arm, wanting pancakes of his own. The two entered the kitchen, narrowly avoiding Bokuto with a tall plate of blueberry pancakes.

“I wasn’t sure what kind people liked so I made a bunch of them.” Michimiya was standing off to the side, watching with a worried look as people grabbed pancakes.

“I’m not sure if this counts as stress baking, but I’m grateful you’re a good cook.” Sawamura grinned as he grabbed a large plate of pancakes. Michimiya smacked him on the arm as he walked by, cheeks turning pink as he laughed. Kenma grabbed a few pancakes of different types and put some whipped cream on top before going back to his seat. He didn’t care how Michimiya made them, but they were godly. His eyes widened after the first bite and he began shoveling in his pancakes. Kuroo laughed as he took a bite of his own pancake.  
“Compliments to the chef. I haven’t seen Kenma eat this fast with anything other than apple pie.” He teased. Kenma paused in eating to jab Kuroo in the side before finishing his pancakes.

“Bokuto-san, do you think you could bring some to Tendou-san and Oikawa-san when you bring Tendou-san hair gel?” Akaashi asked. Bokuto looked up, cheeks puffed with pancakes. He looked like a chipmunk. He at least swallowed before speaking.

“Yeah, sure! They’ll love these!” Bokuto grinned. The room’s mood lifted with warm food and chatter.

“Why don’t you guys start exploring while we clean up?” Misaki suggested, grabbing her plate and stacking it on Terushima’s.

“Bokuto, I left two plates for Oikawa and Tendou.” Michimiya grabbed her plate and Kenma’s, following Misaki into the kitchen. Bokuto stood up, grabbing his own plate and following them.

“So while Bokuto-san cheers up Oikawa-san, we should continue exploring the school if new areas were unlocked.” Akaashi suggested. Everyone seemed in agreement.

“I don’t think the stairs are unlocked yet, but I saw another hallway open up when we walked down.” Mika added. Daishou nodded.

“There seems to be a lot of rooms around there to explore. So, let’s get to it.” The group began to disperse, the cafeteria emptying out quickly.

“You still want to partner up, kitten?” Kuroo asked, offering Kenma his hand. Kenma nodded, taking it and squeezing.

“Let’s go.”


	9. Chapter 2- School Life P2

Kenma and Kuroo followed the group towards the central area, looking for anything new.

“Hey, the bars are gone from this hall!” Terushima called. They all turned, noticing the hallway in between the dorms and the hall to the gym was open.

“Plus I think the doors to the locker rooms got unlocked too.” Sawamura had his head poked through a door.

“Where do you wanna go first, Kitten?” Kuroo asked as the group split up.   
“Let’s look around the hallway.” Kenma decided, pulling Kuroo along. The first door they opened revealed a library, filled with books.

“There’s fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, comic books, oh shit manga, Tendou will be happy.” Kuroo read the signs hanging above the shelves.

“Yuuji! Put that book down!” Kenma peeked down one of the aisles of books, spotting Misaki scowling at Yuuji, a book raised in her hand. The boy looked somewhat embarrassed and Kenma got a glimpse of the cover.

“I think there’s an adults-only section too.” Kenma muttered, hurrying back to Kuroo. He saw his friend with armful of manga books.

“I’ll drop this off by Tendou before we explore the locker rooms later.” He explained as Kenma gave him a questioning look. The two left the library, heading to the next door. Inside, Sugawara was examining cupboards. There were two beds with white sheets and a curtain drawn between them.

“I think this is the infirmary.” Sugawara closed the cupboard doors with a sigh.

“I have no idea how to use most of these though. I wasn’t that good at chemistry.” Sugawara turned to them, a sheepish look on his face.

“Well then, Suga my friend, you are in luck! For I happen to be one of Nekoma’s finest chemists.” Kuroo grinned as he approached the cupboards. He set the books in his arms down on the counter before opening the doors.

“These are mostly different kinds of medicine. But some of these are preeeetty powerful poisons. They’re all on the left side though. So if we just avoid them, we’ll be good.” Kuroo closed the door once more.

“The beds don’t look too uncomfortable, but I guess if you’re sick it won’t matter.” Sugawara mused, poking at the mattress. He spotted the books on the counter and his smile fell.  
“Oh…those are for Tendou, aren’t they?” He asked. Kuroo nodded, picking them up again.

“Yeah. Found them in the library. Figured he might like to read some.” He explained.

“Do you think…I could take them to him? I want to apologize to Oikawa for this morning and I know he’s with him.” Sugawara bit his lip, but Kuroo just pushed the books into his arms.

“Go for it. Bokuto’s probably itching to get exploring anyways.” Kenma chuckled, knowing that was definitely true.

“Alright, I will. Thank you Kuroo.” Sugawara hurried out of the room. Kuroo and Kenma followed him out the door, continuing down the hall. The next door was locked but the one after it was open. There was a large storage room, filled with clothes and various other supplies. Daishou and Mika were scrounging through a box.

“Anything good?” Kuroo asked, causing both of them to jump.

“Jesus fuck Kuroo. Do you have to terrify everyone, or is scaring children with your laugh not enough anymore?” Daishou scowled, folding his arms. Kuroo rolled his eyes.

“I didn’t TRY to scare you asshole. And my question was legitimate.” He argued back. Kenma ignored the two, walking over to Mika and looking in the box. There was some rope and some candles inside.

“I guess the candles are useful if we want a romantic dinner. And the change of clothes is nice. I think there’s some swimsuits in here, so I wonder if there’s a pool.” Mika leaned back from the box, stretching.

“They really thought of everything.” Kenma turned to the pile of clothes, spotting some basic red swim trunks in the pile. He grabbed a pair, just in case, and another one for Kuroo, who was still arguing with Daishou over something stupid.

“Kuroo, I’m leaving.” Kenma said, opening the door. Kuroo was quick to follow, the door slamming shut behind him. Kenma pushed the swim trunks into Kuroo’s arms.

“You feel like swimming, kitten?” Kuroo asked, grinning. Kenma shrugged.

“Who knows? Depends on if we find a pool.” The rest of the doors in the hall were locked, so the two headed back the way they came.

“BRO!” Bokuto shouted, waving at them from outside the locker room door.

“Broooo! My bro! My Broski!” Kuroo greeted, slinging an arm over him.

“How’s Oikawa?” Kenma asked, quickly intervening before the bros could escalate.

“He’s better. We managed to get into his room so he could get his glasses and contact stuff. But he’s gonna stay at Tendou’s.” Bokuto explained. Kuroo blinked.   
“How did you get in his room? Didn’t Iwaizumi have his phone?” He frowned. Bokuto rubbed the back of his neck.  
“Ummm… well I asked Monokuma about that, since it’s not fair Oikawa can’t stay in his own room right? And he showed me this safe in the gym that has Ushijima and Iwaizumi’s phones. Well I guess Ushijima’s and Oikawa’s, but Oikawa has his phone back now! So he can go into his room now.” Bokuto explained. Kenma was going to respond when the locker room door opened.   
“Oh, Bokuto-san. Are you out exploring now?” Akaashi asked. Bokuto nodded eagerly.

“Yeah! What’s the locker room like, Akaashi?” He asked, practically bouncing.

“Well, the room past here is a bit like the entrance to the locker rooms. You have to scan your id at the door, presumably to keep boys from going into the girls’ locker room. I was warned not to ever try the wrong door, or else. I assume that means ‘go in the wrong gender bathroom and you will die.’” Bokuto paled, pulling Akaashi out of the doorway and into his arms.

“We’ll definitely never go in the wrong door! I don’t want you to die, Akaashi!” He cried, holding the younger boy tight. Akaashi managed to squirm out of his grasp, straightening his clothes.

“There’s also a pool and a workout room on the other side, but I’m not sure where to get swimsuits from.” Akaashi sighed.

“Well looks like it’s your lucky day! Kenma and I found some in a storage room, a few doors down the hall.” Kuroo grinned. Kenma rolled his eyes.

“I found the swim suits. Kuroo was arguing with Daishou.” He corrected. Kuroo pouted as Akaashi snickered.

“Accurate. Bokuto-san, let’s go get swimsuits so we can go swimming.” Bokuto smiled brightly and grabbed Akaashi’s arm, pulling the boy down the hall.

“Let’s go see the pool then, shall we?” Kuroo held the door open, Kenma entering the room. There were two doors inside, one with a male symbol and one with a female. A sign on the wall read:

“Boys go on the left! Girls on the right! (If you have an issue with that, please contact your GameMaster!) Do NOT attempt to force your way into the opposite gender locker room or ELSE!” There was a sticker of Monokuma on the bottom. Kenma examined the door and saw a small scanner, similar to the kind locking their dorms. He pulled out his phone and swiped. The light turned green and Kenma heard the door unlock. He opened the door and saw the familiar sight of a locker room.

“Ahhh, home sweet home.” Kuroo let out a sigh as he followed Kenma into the locker room. Kenma didn’t take much time to examine the locker room, having been in too many in his life. He pushed open the next door and was greeted with the smell of chlorine. The next room was a large pool area, the pool cover extended. It looked like an electronic cover, the kind you need to press a button to open and close.

“Fancy smancy.” Kuroo whistled, looking around the pool. There were several beach chairs with small tables near them. Kenma could see another room off to the side with glass windows, immobile bicycle machines and weights inside.

“Bokuto can start lifting again.” Kenma pointed to the room. Kuroo brightened, hurrying over.

“Dude, these are high-tech weight machines!” He opened the door, practically drooling over the exercise equipment. Kenma rolled his eyes. The door to the locker rooms opened, Akaashi walking out.

“Oh, you’re still here?” He had on some blue swim trunks and was holding a towel. He set the towel down on the side table.

“Looks like you had no problem finding the swim suits.” Kenma noted. Akaashi rolled his eyes.

“Bokuto-san can’t decide what color he wants. Daishou got annoyed and stormed out and Mika followed him after Bokuto-san asked if he should try them on there or wait.” Akaashi rubbed his temples. Kenma felt sorry for him.

“Do you know how to open the pool cover?” He asked, leaning over the water and poking the plastic.

“I think there’s a switch. Why don’t you or Kuroo go get Bokuto while I figure it out?” Akaashi suggested. Kenma nodded, standing up again.

“Kuroo!” He called. Kuroo reluctantly walked back over, glancing back at the workout room.

“We’re gonna go get Bokuto before he takes all the swim trunks due to his indecision.” Kenma explained, walking towards the locker room. Kuroo snorted.

“He’s probably looking for some with owls on them.” He sent Akaashi a quick wave before following Kenma back through the locker room.

“They all looked like basic ones, I doubt he’d find any.” Kenma muttered as the two walked back to the storage room. Kuroo opened the door and was hit in the face with swim trunks. Kenma chuckled as he ducked under Kuroo’s arm. Bokuto was making a mess of the storage room, throwing clothes around as he searched the piles.

“Bo. Buddy. This isn’t your room, ya know.” Kuroo grabbed some of the trunks off the floor, tossing them back in the pile.

“Broooooo! How else am I supposed to know which ones I looked at already?” Bokuto whined, pausing in his searching to turn to them. Kenma rolled his eyes, reaching into the pile and pulling out some black ones with gold stripes on the side.

“These ones are identical to your uniform. Akaashi will like them.” He tossed them at Bokuto, whose eyes were practically sparkling.

“That’s a good idea, Kenma! I’ll look so cool in these!” Bokuto beamed. Kuroo laughed as he held the door open for the other two to walk through.

“You probably looked past those like ten times.” He teased, nudging Bokuto as they walked. Bokuto shoved him back and Kenma walked faster to avoid the two’s antics.

“Akaashi said he’d uncover the pool for us, so we should change then we can go swimming.” Kenma explained as he unlocked the locker room door once more. It felt kinda cool to swipe his phone and be let in. Like he was famous. Not that he’d admit that out loud. The trio entered the locker room and began to change. Kenma chose to change in a corner, leaving his T-shirt on with the swim trunks, so he could put it on after swimming. He glanced over at Kuroo and Bokuto. He had been correct to pick out the colors he did, both looked great in their swim trunks. Kenma grabbed three towels from a basket, tossing two at the others.

“Let’s go!” Bokuto cheered, hurrying to the pool. Kenma and Kuroo followed him, Kenma frowning when he saw the pool cover still sitting on the water.

“Akaashi said he’d uncover it.” Kenma muttered, looking around. The raven-haired teen was nowhere to be found, but his towel was still sitting on the chair.

“Maybe he had to go pee? Let’s uncover the pool for when he comes back.” Kuroo suggested, walking over to the end of the pool, where the mechanism attached to the pool cover sat. He examined it before reaching out and pressing a button. There was a whirring noise as the cover started retracting. It took about a minute for it to retract all the way. Kenma’s eyes widened as he saw black hair floating in the water as the pool cover reached the end.

“AKAASHI!” Bokuto practically screamed, diving into the pool. He surfaced quickly, grabbing the limp body of the setter. He swam to the side of the pool, Kuroo reaching in to help pull Akaashi out of the water. Bokuto climbed out afterwards, kneeling next to him.

“No, no, no! Akaash!I Hey, Keiji!” He gently smacked Akaashi’s cheeks.

“I don’t think he’s breathing.” Kuroo whispered, eyes wide as he ran a hand through his hair. Bokuto practically shoved Kuroo out of the way as he adjusted position, putting his hands over his chest. He began compressions, counting out loud before leaning down to breath into Akaashi’s mouth, as they had been taught in school. He kept going for a solid five minutes with no response. Kenma just watched, eyes wide. The intercom began to crackle and Kenma knew that it was over.

“ _Ding Dong! A body has been discovered!”_

 


	10. Chapter 2- Investigation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So AO3 had drafted one of the earlier chapters instead of posting them, so there IS a new chapter in between the prologue and Ushijima's death that might help make things less confusing!

“ _Ding Dong! A body has been discovered! After a brief investigation period, we’ll have our class trial!”_ The intercom crackled off, not that Kenma could hear over Bokuto’s screaming. Kuroo physically had to drag him away from Akaashi’s body, the white-haired boy trying not to let go.

“N-No way. This is just a dream right? A bad dream. Cuz Akaashi can’t be dead because he’s AKAASHI I mean….h-he’s AKAASHI.” Kuroo rambled, voice cracking as he leaned Bokuto against the pool wall, eyes wide and knees pulled close to him. Bokuto had his fists clenched in his hair tightly and he was breathing rapidly.

“Kuroo, get him to breathe normal. I-I’m going to get the others.” Kenma couldn’t stand to be in the room any longer with his dead friend and his two panicking ones. He stumbled as he pushed open the locker room door, not even bothering to put his shoes back on as he scrambled into the lobby, eyes wide as he looked for someone. He spotted Mika walking towards the dorms, looking worried.

“M-Mika-san!” Kenma called out, amazed his voice even worked. She turned around in an instant and hurried over.

“Kenma-kun! Oh thank god. Did you hear the announcement? I-Is it true?! I-Is it happening again?” She asked, biting her lip. He nodded, glancing back in the locker room.

“T-The body’s in the pool. We need to get everyone.” He took a step and nearly fell on his face, knees shaking. Mika caught him, looking concerned.   
“Kenma, who died? I-It wasn’t Kuroo, was it?” He shook his head.

“A-Akaashi…” He mumbled. She gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

“Kenma! Mika!” The two looked up as they saw Sawamura, Terushima, Misaki and Daishou hurrying over from the hallway with the library and infirmary.

“Please tell me that body discovery announcement was fake.” Misaki looked at the expressions on both of their faces and knew that there was no way it was fake.

“Where is it?” Sawamura asked, looking around.   
“Through the locker rooms, in the pool. Make sure you read the sign.” Kenma explained. They nodded and hurried into the locker rooms, Daishou pausing to hand Mika a jacket, which she pulled on with a small thank you.

“Michimiya is probably in the cafeteria still, and Oikawa and Tendou are probably still together.” Mika realized.

“I’ll go get them. You go back inside. After all, you’re the best detective we have.” Mika chuckled dryly before walking quickly towards the dorms. Kenma hesitated before heading back to the pool. Sugawara was kneeling next to Bokuto, running a hand through his hair and using his body to block the line of sight to Akaashi.

“How did this happen? We were gone maybe five minutes.” Kuroo ran a hand through his hair as Kenma approached.

“Five minutes can be a long time.” Kenma muttered, taking Kuroo’s free hand and squeezing. He jumped when the locker room door slammed open and Oikawa ran through, Tendou on his tail. The girls opened their door quieter, Mika leading Michimiya through.

“Suga-chan, move.” Oikawa ordered, ignoring the body and going straight to Bokuto instead.

“Kou-chan?” Oikawa said softly, placing a hand on Bokuto’s cheek. Bokuto’s eyes flickered in the direction of his hand, then back at Oikawa.

“Kou-chan, I know it hurts, but you know that I have the same hurt inside too, so you can trust me. And right now, you need to leave.” Oikawa’s voice was firm.

“B-But… A-Akaashi.” Bokuto mumbled, trying to look around Oikawa.

“You can’t help Akaashi by sitting here doing nothing. Tendou and I will take care of you, while the others take care of him. Alright?” Tendou kneeled next to him. Bokuto’s eyes flickered between the two before he nodded.

“Alrighty. Up we go, big guy.” Tendou and Oikawa lifted Bokuto up onto his feet, turning him away from the body. Oikawa sent Kenma a firm look before the trio left the pool area.

“ _Now that THAT’s out of the way….”_ They all jumped as Monokuma appeared, holding a familiar black file.

“ _The Monokuma File~!”_ Monokuma tossed the file in the air. Terushima barely managed to catch it, the file fumbling in his hands.

“ _Have fun investigating! I’ll tell you when times up, so do your best!”_ Monokuma laughed before vanishing again.  
“I think bears are makin’ their way up to my #1 least favorite animal.” Terushima grumbled as he opened the file.

“Alrighty… Victim: Akaashi Keiji. Cause of Death: Drowning. Time of Death: 9:10 AM. No other wounds.” Terushima read. He let out a sigh and handed the file to Sawamura, who reread it a few times.

“So is it safe to assume our crime scene is right here? I mean, there’s a giant pool right here.” Terushima pointed out.

“We found him floating in the water under the pool cover… so I think he was drowned here.” Kenma hated having to talk so casually, as if his friend hadn’t just died.

“So let’s look around the area. See if we can find anything.” Sawamura suggested, closing the file. The group began to split up around the area. Kenma gently tugged on Michimya’s sleeve as she walked by.

“Um…since we can’t go in ourselves, can I trust you to investigate the girls’ locker room?” He asked quietly, not looking at her. She smiled and nodded, patting his head.

“Of course, Kenma-kun. Leave it to me!” She pulled out her phone and made her way to the locker room.

“Kenma, where do you want to start?” Kuroo asked, looking around the room.

“I’m wondering…if we were only gone a few minutes, how did the killer know when we left or when we got back? And where did they hide?” Kenma began. Kuroo frowned, folding his arms.  
“Well, what happened when we left? I think Akaashi removed the pool cover, since that’s the only way he could end up under it.” Kuroo mused, squatting next to the cover. Kenma’s eyes widened.

“And it’s the first thing we did when we got back. Plus it made a loud noise.” He recalled. Kuroo stood up, grinning.

“So, assuming the locker rooms aren’t soundproof like the dorms, the killer could’ve just waited for us to activate the pool mechanism, then they’d know they’d have a few minutes before the body discovery announcement to go get an alibi, or whatever.” Kuroo suggested. Kenma nodded, glancing at the locker room.

“We can always test it out. I’ll go wait in the locker room and you press the button.” Kenma suggested. Kuroo nodded and squatted back down as Kenma walked into the locker room. He shut the door and waited. A few moments later, he could hear the mechanism going. He looked around the locker room, since he was already there. Daishou was rummaging through lockers, and all Kenma saw were his, Bokuto, and Kuroo’s clothes from earlier and their shoes. Speaking of shoes, Kenma remembered he still wasn’t wearing any. He slipped on his pants, socks and shoes again before going back out to the pool.

“It’s still loud.” Kenma grumbled. Kuroo chuckled as he straightened.

“So that had to be the cue the killer used. One part of the mystery solved. To be perfectly honest, I’m not quite sure where else to go. I mean, unlike the last case, we don’t even have a suspect.” Kuroo sighed, frowning as he thought.

“We could ask Bokuto… After all, he’s the only one who knows what happened before we showed up.” Kenma suggested. Kuroo winced.

“I dunno, Kitten. He still seems kinda…shocked.” He bit his lip. Kenma folded his arms, looking around.

“This case is more straightforward than the last one. There’s no moving the body, there’s no need to search people’s dorms…The real mystery is just where the killer hid and who did it.” Kenma thought out loud. He walked over to one of the storage closets along the wall. He opened it and frowned. There were shelves inside, stuffed to the brim with kickboards. The next closet had similar items.

“All the closets in here are full.” Kenma called to Kuroo, who had been watching him.

“Is there anywhere else to hide?” Kuroo mused, spinning around slowly, eyes darting around. The intercom crackled to life as Kuroo’s mouth opened.

“ _Alrighty kids! Tiiiiiime is up! You know where to go!”_ Monokuma’s voice rang out. Kuroo swore under his breath as Kenma walked back over to him.

“Did you think of a hiding spot?” Kenma asked, taking his hand once again. Kuroo nodded and glanced over at the workout room. Sawamura and Sugawara were walking out of it, talking with grim looks on their faces.

“The workout room had some closets and a small bathroom in there too. We’ll ask Sawamura and Sugawara at the trial though.” Kenma nodded and pulled Kuroo through the locker room. He spotted Mika and Daishou having an intense conversation in the hall farthest from the elevator’s hall. Their conversation stopped when they spotted Kenma and Kuroo and Mika turned briskly, walking away from Daishou towards the elevator.  
“Everything okay in the Neighborhood of Love?” Kuroo asked, raising an eyebrow. Daishou scowled.

“Not now, Kuroo.” He grumbled, storming off in the direction of the elevator. Kuroo blinked.

“Huh. Wonder what they’re fighting about.” Kenma shrugged and just followed the couple, the others slowly grouping up until they were all in front of the elevator doors. Oikawa had an arm around Bokuto’s shoulder, the owl-boy’s eyes still slightly glazed over, but Kenma saw tell-tale tear tracks down his cheeks. The elevator doors opened and they all entered the elevator. With the familiar creaking sound, the doors closed and they began to descend.

_Time to find out who killed Akaashi Keiji._


	11. Chapter 2- Class Trial

It was awkward to have an empty stand next to him instead of the familiar sight of his friend. Kenma shifted closer to Sugawara’s side, biting his lip.

“ _Alrighty kids, you know the deal! One of you killed Akaashi Keiji! Time to find out who!”_ Monokuma was sitting in his usual spot with the red button.

“So the Monokuma File is pretty simple this time. Death by drowning. Obviously it had to happen in the pool, since Kuroo and Kenma found him in there.” Terushima began, leaning on the stand as he tapped his screen.

“He died at 9:10 AM. We were all exploring around then, right?” Misaki frowned. Kenma nodded.

“We woke up at 7, had breakfast around 8 and had been exploring for a while. Akaashi had found a pool and suggested we go swimming. But Bokuto-san was taking a while picking out his swimsuit, so Akaashi sent us to go fetch him. We were probably only gone around 5 minutes.” Kenma explained.

“So somehow someone got in the pool after you left, drowned Akaashi AND put the pool cover back on afterwards, AND left by the time you guys got there? All in five minutes?” Oikawa repeated. Kenma nodded again.

“That seems to be what happened. Not to mention we were changing in the locker room, so the killer couldn’t hide in there. And the lockers in the pool are full of swimming supplies.” Kuroo pulled up pictures of the closets Kenma hadn’t even realized he’d taken.

“So how did you miss the killer? Did they sneak out while you found the body?” Mika frowned.

“No, we didn’t immediately find the body. The pool cover was over it. We would’ve definitely noticed somebody else hanging around.” Kuroo reminded them.

“Okay, where else could they have hidden?” Misaki asked.

“What about the workout room? Sawamura, you checked in there, yeah?” Sawamura nodded, pulling up pictures he’d taken with his phone.

“There was a little bathroom off to the side. Someone could’ve hidden in there.” He mused, zooming into the bathroom.

“Wouldn’t we have noticed someone coming out of the workout room instead of through the locker room?” Sugawara pointed out.

“So where exactly could the killer have hidden?” Tendou asked, confused.

“What about the girls’ locker room?” Michimiya suddenly spoke up. Her face went red as everyone looked at her.

“I-I mean, you guys couldn’t check there because of the rules, so if the killer was a girl, she could’ve hidden and you guys wouldn’t have been able to find her.” She explained. Kenma blinked.

“That’s true. We couldn’t even go in there to investigate.” Kenma realized. Michimiya nodded and pulled up pictures of the girls’ locker room. It looked identical to the boys’, but had a poster of some boy band on the wall.

“I took pictures like you asked, Kenma, but I didn’t really see anything useful. I did hear a weird noise while investigating though.” Michimiya frowned.

“Oh that was probably the pool cover. Kenma wanted to see if the locker rooms were soundproof, so I activated the mechanism. It’s pretty loud.” Kuroo chuckled.

“Why did you want to see if the locker room was soundproof?” Sugawara cocked his head, confused.

“I think that’s how the killer knew when we were gone. If she waited hear for the pool cover to be retracted, they’d know we wouldn’t be in the lobby and she could leave safely.” Kenma explained.

“Because you would be more concerned about Akaashi than about checking the lobby to see anyone escape.” Sawamura realized. Kenma nodded.

“Exactly.”  Mika frowned, folding her arms.

“So you’re saying either Misaki, Michimiya or I killed Akaashi?” She narrowed her eyes, glancing at the other two girls.

“Misaki was with me the whole time. We were in the library looking at the books.” Terushima piped up. Misaki nodded in agreement.

“I stayed with Daishou. We were heading back to the dorms after finishing scouting out the supply room.” Mika leaned on her hands, looking directly at Michimiya, whose eyes widened.

“W-wait! You don’t think I did it, do you? T-That’s impossible!” She looked frantically around the group.

“We left Michimiya alone to clean up breakfast, remember? So who else has no alibi?” Mika shot back.

“I’m telling you! It wasn’t me!” Michimiya insisted.

“Hold it!” Tendou suddenly interrupted loudly. All eyes turned on him and he blinked.

“Wow didn’t think the Phoenix Wright tactic would work. Anyways, question! If someone drowned Akaashi, they had to have held him down under the water, yeah? So wouldn’t their sleeves be wet?” Tendou pointed out. Kenma looked at Michimiya. Her long white sweater had clean sleeves.

“She could’ve rolled her sleeves up before killing him!” Daishou folded his arms.

“But the ends of her sleeves would still be wet.” Oikawa reached over and felt the end of her sleeves.

“Nope. They’re dry. So unless Michimiya somehow had a magical girl transformation without us seeing, she couldn’t have drowned Akaashi.” Oikawa leaned on his stand, staring intently at Mika.

“What?” She spat, scowling.

“Oh nothing, just admiring your jacket. It’s a bit big on you, isn’t it?” He smirked as she began fiddling with the end of her sleeves.

“Daishou gave it to me. Why does it matter?” She hugged the jacket tighter around her.

“That’s true. I saw him give it to her.” Kenma spoke up. Oikawa made a humming noise.

“How sweet. Although, I was sweating like a pig after going in the pool. My hair was getting frizzy, even after I left. And I only stayed a few minutes. So why on earth did you need a jacket, when you were in there investigating for nearly an hour?” Oikawa asked.

“She was cold after leaving the pool. The temperature difference was a lot. So I got her a jacket.” Daishou scowled, obviously not enjoying the interrogation.

“But you didn’t give it to her after leaving the pool. You gave it to her before you two even went in.” Kenma remembered. The two went silent, exchanging looks.

“So Mika-chan was wearing the jacket before going into the incredibly humid pool and never took it off?” Oikawa asked, raising an eyebrow. Kenma nodded, staring at Mika.

“Oh, are we judging my fashion choice now? I get cold easily! You’re just jealous you don’t have anyone to share jackets with.” Mika scowled. Oikawa visibily tensed, straightening up.

“You conniving little-“Oikawa began, gripping his stand tightly.

“Oikawa!” Sugawara cut off, giving him a stern look. The brown-haired teen scowled but didn’t finish his sentence.

“Um, I dunno if it matters, but here.” Misaki broke the silence, pulling off her own jacket to reveal her short-sleeved t-shirt.

“Like I said, I was with Terushima the whole time. But maybe Mika-chan would feel a bit more comfortable not being the only one to have to prove herself.” Misaki gave Mika a warm smile that was definitely not returned.

“Mika, why don’t you just take off your jacket? If you don’t have anything to hide, anyways.” Kuroo folded his arms. Mika scowled but removed her jacket. Her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows.

“There, happy?” She flipped her hair. Kenma shook his head.

“Unroll your sleeves too. That way we can see if they’re still wet.” He knew he could’ve asked more politely, but frankly if there was even a chance Mika killed Akaashi, she didn’t deserve his politeness.

“Are you serious right now?” She groaned but unrolled her sleeve. There were tiny dark patches on her elbows.

“Those look like water stains to me.” Tendou whistled. Mika scowled.

“My sleeves are wet, big deal. I probably got them wet while washing my hands after going to the bathroom. That doesn’t mean I’m a killer!” She protested.   
“She does have a point… Just because her sleeves are wet, doesn’t mean she’s guilty.” Sawamura pointed out. Kenma let out an irritated huff of air, trying to think.

“Like I said, I was with Daishou the entire time! The only girl without an alibi is MIchimiya!” Mika insisted.

“I didn’t kill Akaashi! I didn’t even go to the pool until after the body discovery announcement!” Michimiya’s eyes were filling with tears. The group continued bickering, Kenma staying silent as he tried to think. There had to be SOMETHING they were missing.

 _“Bokuto-san can’t decide what color he wants. Daishou got annoyed and stormed out and Mika followed him after Bokuto-san asked if he should try them on there or wait.” Akaashi rubbed his temples_.

Kenma suddenly gasped aloud, remembering that one of the most important people hadn’t spoken yet.

“Bokuto-san.” The group went silent as Kenma addressed the white-haired boy. Bokuto looked in his direction, still not speaking.

“Bokuto-san, I need you to tell me everything that happened before you and Akaashi separated. You took longer to find your swimsuit, remember?” Kenma prodded. Bokuto nodded.

“I wanted to look cool.” He muttered, fidgeting his fingers. Kenma nodded.

“Was there anyone with you when you were looking for a cool swimsuit?” Oikawa asked gently. Bokuto bit his lip.

“I um… I think Akaashi greeted Daishou…and Mika? Probably Mika. I dunno…” He looked down at the floor. Kenma resisted the urge to groan in annoyance. This was worse than Bokuto’s emo mode.

“Oh yeah. Akaashi said you pissed Daishou off.” Kuroo snickered. Daishou’s face turned red as he scowled. There was a faint trace of a smile on Bokuto’s lips, but it was gone in a flash.

“I kept throwing the trunks behind me and hitting him in the face. He got mad and left. Mika left pretty soon after.” He remembered. Kenma blinked.   
“Wait. Daishou left first, THEN Mika? Not at the same time?” He asked slowly. Bokuto nodded.

“So they weren’t together the entire time.” Sugawara realized. Mika was tightly clenching the jacket in her arms, glaring in silence.

“A few minutes of separation isn’t enough time for a murder!” Daishou protested.

“Five minutes was all she needed.” Kuroo shot back.

“You guys were separated for longer than that. I definitely remember seeing Kenma and Mika together after the body discovery announcement, but Daishou was with us when we got to the locker room!” Misaki recalled. Sawamura and Terushima both nodded. Kuroo blinked, turning to Kenma.

“When did you find Mika alone, kitten?” He asked, frowning. Kenma’s eyes widened before his gaze turned to Mika.

_He stumbled as he pushed open the locker room door, not even bothering to put his shoes back on as he scrambled into the lobby, eyes wide as he looked for someone. He spotted Mika walking towards the dorms, looking worried._

“She was the first person I found after running from the locker room. She was walking towards the dorms.” Kenma said slowly. Mika visibly paled as they all turned to her.

“So you weren’t with Daishou the whole time, and you were walking away from the locker rooms right after Akaashi was killed.” Tendou concluded, leaning on his arms with interest.

“I-I…” Mika sputtered. She looked to Daishou, but he just stared at the floor.

“S-Suguru?” Her voice cracked. Daishou was shaking as he stood up. His voice was filled with grim determination.

“Monokuma. Start the voting.”


	12. Chapter 2- End of Chapter

“Start the voting!” Daishou repeated, louder. Mika’s eyes were wide.

“S-Su-chan? Suguru what are you doing?!” She ran over to him, shaking his arm. He pulled away, tears running down his face.

“What are YOU doing Mika?! What were you thinking?! Did Iwaizumi not prove a point?” Daishou gripped his hair tightly, Mika froze, eyes wide and arms still reaching for him.

“Mika-chan…it’s over.” Misaki said quietly. Mika turned to the others, many of whom didn’t meet her eyes.

“ _Upupupupu~! Sounds like we have a decision! Which means its Voting Time! Cast your votes on the screen ahead of you!”_ Their faces appeared on the screen again, just like before. Kenma bit his lip before tapping Mika’s face. Voting went even faster than last time. 11 votes for Mika.

“ _Ooooohh someone didn’t even bother voting! Doesn’t matter anyways, because for the second time in a row you are ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! The blackened and the killer of Akaashi Keiji is Okinara Miiiiiiika-chan!”_ The victory sign appeared on their screens, but it still didn’t really feel like victory.

“Mika, why? Why would you kill Akaashi?!” Sugawara asked, eyes wide. Mika just shrugged.

“Honestly, it was a bit of a spur-of-the-moment. I heard him talking to this idiot about the pool and it all sorta clicked. Plus he left by himself, like who would even do that if people are being murdered?” She laughed. Bokuto visibly winced, his fists tight on his stand.

“But you didn’t expect me and Kuroo to be there too.” Kenma added quietly. Mika scowled, arms folding.

“You stupid cats are always meddling. Luckily, I heard you three talking from the locker room and knew when you two left. Akaashi-kun was very polite when he saw me. He didn’t suspect a thing.” Mika giggled. Kenma’s eyes flickered back to Bokuto, who seemed paler than usual. He looked like he was going to be sick.

“Mika that’s enough. J-Just stop it already!” Daishou pleaded, grabbing her hand. She went quiet, turning to him.

“Su-chan? Why don’t you understand? I did this for you!” She purred, leaning in close. Daishou’s eyes went wide as their foreheads touched.

“W-What? I don’t understand.” He sputtered. She leaned closer and whispered something in his ear before pushing him away.

“I just have one more thing to say before I go now~!” Mika sang, walking back to her stand before turning and staring Kenma in the eyes.

“Maybe you should be a little more careful where you stick your nose, ‘kitten’. After all, if anyone wants to get away with murder around here, they’ll have to deal with you first.” She grinned evilly before turning to Monokuma.

“ _Well well. What a lovely goodbye! I have a tear in my eye. But nonetheless, it’s time for everyone’s favorite part! Iiiiiit’s PUNISHMENT TIME!”_ Monokuuma laughed and slammed his hammer down on the button. The floor under Mika opened and the girl disappeared in an instant.

“Mika!” Daishou ran to the spot, but nothing happened. Their screens flickered to life once more, showing a familiar scene. A volleyball court, but instead of players, the people were shadows. The camera panned to the crowd and the cheerleaders. Mika was right up front, surrounded by happy cheerleaders. Mika looked confused, looking around the stands as the referee whistle blew. She made eye contact with the cheerleader next to her. The girl screeched and turned to stone, surprising Mika. She took a step back and bumped into the girl behind her. The two made eye contact and the cheerleader screamed again and turned to stone. Mika covered her ears, visibly wincing as the crowd erupted into screams and went crazy. Kenma lost track of Mika in the chaos.

“There! She found the door!” Kuroo pointed. Kenma let his eyes trail away from the chaotic crowd (he swore he saw some guys with swords and shields amongst them) and saw Mika, covered in bruises and footprints crawling towards the door. She used the handle to stand herself up and push the door open. The scene changed to outside, a school roof, as Mika ran out. She ran straight to the edge, barely catching herself on the curb. She turned back around to run, but a mirror rose out of the ground. Mika let out a horrified scream as her reflection’s hair turned to snakes, her skin peeling away to show scales. Mika instinctively stepped back and tripped on the curb, falling. Kenma saw Daishou look away with a wince as Mika splattered on the ground below, the screen fading to black.

“I don’t get it.” Bokuto mumbled, falling to his knees. Everyone turned to him, a mixture of confusion and worry on their faces.

“It’s supposed to feel better, right? I mean, Akaashi got avenged? B-But it doesn’t! W-We just lost another friend instead and it hurts even worse!” He started shaking again, tears rolling down his cheeks. Tendou bit his lip, looking down.

“I didn’t feel satisfied at all when Iwaizumi died. It just… Wakatoshi wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to die at all, even if they had killed him.” Tendou admitted quietly.

“ _But they keep happening, don’t they? I didn’t even have to provide motives! You kiddos got started on your own! Makes a GameMaster so proud!”_ Monokuma pretended to wipe away a tear.

“The only one who needed to die is that asshole bear. Instead we lost four good people.” Terushima ran a hand through his hair.

“Then let’s agree right now. We’ll partner up, never be alone. That way there’s no way for someone to kill. We’ll watch out for each other.” Sawamura suggested. Everyone nodded, Kuroo reaching over to take Kenma’s hand.

“Fuck that.” Daishou stood up. Kuroo was going to say something with a glare, but he went silent when he saw the broken look on his rival’s face.

“Daishou, what are yo-“

“Shut up already!” Daishou snapped, interrupting Sugawara. He scowled, glaring at all of them.

“Partner up? Watch out for each other? That’s a load of bullshit! I only trusted one person and she’s fucking dead.” He spat.

“Like it or not, you have to trust us! Otherwise…” Misaki trailed off as Daishou shot her a broken smile.

“Otherwise I’ll be next, right? Sure, let’s all play happy family and trust each other! But that trust won’t go far enough that we can feel safe enough to walk around alone. That trust didn’t go far enough to keep our friends and loved ones from getting killed in the first place! So fuck that trust.” Daishou turned on his heel and ran off. Nobody followed him, everyone staying at their stand in shock. Kuroo’s hand tightened on Kenma’s. He looked up and saw the shocked look on his face.

 _He’s probably never seen Daishou like that before…_ Kenma realized.

“We should head back to the elevator.” Micihimiya said softly. There was obvious hesitation before the group began heading that way. Oikawa stopped to help pull Bokuto to his feet, leading the broken boy towards the elevator.

“It’ll be okay, Kitten. It’ll be okay.” Kuroo kept muttering. Kenma was pretty sure it was more to convince himself than Kenma, but he didn’t point it out. The elevator ride was even quieter than the first. Daishou was nowhere to be found. Kenma had a feeling the teen wouldn’t be found unless he wanted to be.

“I’ll stay with Kou-chan.” Oikawa spoke up, keeping his hand in Bokuto’s.

“He can stay with me if he wants. We’re supposed to be bros after all.” Kuroo chuckled weakly. Bokuto’s eyes flickered between the two.

“You’ll be staying with Ken-chan, right? There won’t be enough room on the bed. Besides, I love sleepovers.” Oikawa smiled softly at Bokuto, who nodded.

“If you want to Bo, go for it. Just take a pic of him when he wakes up so I can see his bedhead.” Kuroo teased. Oikawa pouted.

“That’s rich coming from you, Mr. Roosterhead!” He shot back. Kuroo put his free hand over his chest, pretending to be wounded.

“Ouch, you hurt me, O Grand King.” Kenma could tell their antics were horribly forced, but nevertheless the mood was lifted slightly. There were muttered goodbyes as people split into pairs to go into rooms. Terushima followed Tendou this time, since the two girls decided to stay together. Kenma unlocked his dorm room, Kuroo following him in.

“Maybe we won’t wake up to Monokuma this time.” Kuroo sighed as he flopped down on the bed. Kenma was silent as he climbed in as well.

“You don’t have to pretend around me, Kuroo.” Kenma mumbled. Kuroo blinked before his smile dropped.

“I know, Kitten. It’s just… I’ve never seen Daishou like that before.” He said quietly, pulling the covers over them. Kenma nodded.

“I wonder what Mika told him. It had to be something bad for him to act like that.” Kuroo shrugged, yawning.

“Who knows, Kitten? Who knows?”


	13. Chapter 3- School Life P1

Breakfast was quieter than normal. Nobody pointed out the fact Daishou was missing, and Kenma had a feeling the teen wouldn’t be found easily. Bokuto was poking at his eggs, not eating any.

“C’mon, Bo. You gotta eat. I know you’re hungry, you’re ALWAYS hungry.” Kuroo practically pleaded, trying to catch Bokuto’s gaze. The boy ignored him, continuing to jab his fork into his food. Suddenly, Oikawa let out a dramatic sigh, dropping his fork to the plate with a loud clatter. The table jumped in surprise at the sudden noise.

“I’m stuffed. I can’t eat a single more thing.” Oikawa sighed again, leaning on his arm. Bokuto’s eyes flickered towards Oikawa’s half-eaten plate of food, then back at his own.

“I’m so sorry Michimiya, I’m giving you so much more work to do while cleaning.” Oikawa pouted. Michimiya blinked, confused.

“Um it’s no- Oh! Uh, its fine I guess. I’ll just be stuck in the kitchen all day, again, while you guys get to explore the school.” Michimiya caught on, pretending to look disappointed.

“I um… I-I could…finish it.” Bokuto offered quietly. Oikawa’s eyes practically sparkled as he turned to Bokuto.

“Kou-chan! You’re my hero!” He pushed his food onto Bokuto’s plate. Bokuto looked down and began to eat. Once he started, his pace picked up quickly, like he hadn’t realized how hungry he actually was. Kuroo shot Oikawa a grateful look. Oikawa just winked at him.

“So we’re going to explore the school again, right? New areas should’ve opened up.” Misaki said. Sawamura nodded.

“I saw the bars covering the stairs were gone. So we can go upstairs now. Though we should still stay in partners.” He glanced at Sugawara, who nodded.

“We’ll help Michimiya clean up then head upstairs. You guys can go ahead.” He suggested. This sounded good to everyone as they finished eating. Kuroo stacked his plate on top of Kenma’s and carried it to the kitchen.

“Shall we get going, kitten?” Kuroo asked. Kenma nodded and stood up.

“Mind if we join you?” Oikawa asked, standing up as well and nudging Bokuto. The teen stood up, though it seemed to be more out of obligation than a want to.

“It’ll be an adventure.” Kuroo grinned. The four went off, following Misaki, Terushima and Tendou upstairs. There was a few hallways and a lot more doors. The first ones they tried were all locked.

“Seriously, why have these doors if they’re going to be locked?” Oikawa groaned after the third consecutive locked door. Finally the fourth one was unlocked and they made their way inside, revealing an office.

“Oooh, a computer?” Kenma and Oikawa both dashed for it, leaving Bokuto and Kuroo in the doorway. Kenma claimed the seat behind the desk first, leaving Oikawa to stand. Kenma immediately booted up the computer, a fancy one with two large screens and a small laptop attached. The home screen lit up before going to a blank desktop. Oikawa pouted but Kenma wasn’t deterred, instead clicking the start menu and opening the documents tab. Almost immediately, hundreds of folders appeared.

“Holy shit. That’s a lot of info.” Oikawa whistled.

“There’s books in here too. Got some manuscripts or something.” Kuroo called from over by one of the bookshelves. Bokuto had sat down on one of the comfy chairs by the doorway.

“This could take weeks to go through.” Kenma mumbled, scrolling through the folders. They weren’t organized in any particular order.

“Well we can split the work between this computer and the laptop, right? Just drag some of the folders to the other monitors and I’ll work from here, and you can take the laptop and work from your dorm or wherever.” Oikawa suggested. Kenma nodded and began transferring files.   
“It’ll take a while, right? Let’s keep exploring while it transfers.” Kuroo suggested. Kenma stood up and Oikawa immediately snagged the office chair.

“You two go ahead. I’m designating Kou-chan as my official book-reader!” Bokuto perked at his name, eyes wide.

“Huh?” He frowned. Oikawa pointed at the bookshelf full of manuscripts.

“Well I’m going to be busy reading the files on the computer, so I need someone to read the manuscripts in case there’s important stuff inside. Think you can handle that?” Oikawa challenged. Bokuto’s eyes narrowed with determination, the first emotion Kenma had seen other than despair since they discovered Akaashi’s body. He stood up and walked to the bookshelf, opening the door and pulling out an armful of binders before sitting back down in his spot, tossing the pile onto the chair next to him and flipping a binder open. Kuroo sent Oikawa a thumbs up before leaving the office, Kenma close behind.

“Oikawa’s kind of a genius. I see why Chibi-chan freaks out over him so much.” Kuroo chuckled. Kenma nodded.

“Oikawa’s good at bringing out the best in others, so he probably has good people skills.” Kenma let out a sigh. He, on the other hand, had terrible people skills and just sat back and followed along.

“Don’t start feeling inferior to Oikawa now, Kitten. He’s not the one who’s led us through all the class trials. Half the stuff you figure out would’ve been impossible for the rest of us.” Kuroo pointed out. Kenma looked down, letting out a huff.

“It’s just some observation skills.” He mumbled. Kuroo chuckled, ruffling his hair, much to Kenma’s irritation.

“That’s why you’re Nekoma’s brain, kitten.” They opened the next door, discovering a science lab. Misaki and Terushima were inside, looking through drawers.

“There’s only beakers in here. Laaaame. Isn’t this a chem lab? Where’s the cool chemicals at?” Terushima pouted as he closed the drawer. Misaki rolled her eyes.

“I’d be seriously concerned about having you near actual chemicals, even if we had a teacher nearby.” Misaki teased. Terushima’s cheeks turned pink as he folded his arms, looking away.

“S-Shut up! I passed chemistry!” He protested.

“You had to take supplementary exams.” She reminded him. Kuroo snorted, earning the attention of the two bickering teens.

“Sorry, sorry. I’ve just heard a very similar conversation between two of our teammates.” Kenma snickered at the memory. Inuoka and Shibayama had a nearly identical argument that was interrupted by Kuroo basically forcing them to let him tutor them in chemistry, since he “couldn’t bear to see his two kouhais fail his best subject”.

“Did you find anything else in this area?” Kenma asked. Misaki shook her head.

“There’s a biology lab next door, but that’s about it. A few public bathrooms too. For unlocking a new area, there’s really nothing here.” She sighed.

“Well there’s a shit-ton of information on the computers in the office next door. Oikawa and Bokuto are getting started on reading them.” Terushima’s eyes lit up.

“A computer? Does that mean we can game?” He asked, excited. Kenma shook his head, also disappointed.

“There’s only files on there. No games and no way to connect to the internet.” He pouted slightly. Terushima groaned.

“I’m gonna fall behind the guys so fast!” He whined. Misaki shook her head, chuckling.

“You boys and your video games. I swear you spend more time playing games than practicing volleyball.” She teased. Terushima folded his arms.

“We’re getting better at teamwork by playing games! Plus we can use the in-game terms to make plays in volleyball and nobody else will understand them!” He argued. Kenma raised an eyebrow.

“Except anyone else who plays the game.” He pointed out. Terushima blinked.

“Oh yeah, huh. Suddenly the last practice game’s outcome is making a lot more sense…” He chuckled sheepishly as Misaki’s mouth dropped.

“Wait so all those weird things you were shouting to each other were from your video games!?” Kuroo and Kenma left the two teens bickering, making their way back to the office. Oikawa and Bokuto were in the exact same position as when they had left.

“The laptop finished transferring the files, so you can take it with you.” Oikawa said, eyes never leaving the screen as Kenma approached. Kenma grabbed the laptop, shutting the lid carefully and tucking it under his arm.

“Make sure you come down for lunch and dinner.” Kuroo leaned against the door, speaking more towards Bokuto than Oikawa. Both boys made a humming noise, showing they heard him. Kuroo let out a sigh as Kenma walked back over.

“They’re nearly as bad as you with a new game.” Kuroo whined as the door shut behind them.

“I’m not that bad.” Kenma protested.

“Yes you are.”

“…am not.”  
“Are too.”


	14. Chapter 3- School Life P2

The next few days passed the same way. Kenma would get up and go to breakfast, lunch and dinner with the others, then lock himself in his dorm with Kuroo to go through the laptop’s files. Oikawa and Bokuto stayed in the office to read, occasionally missing breakfast or lunch due to distraction. Tendou had started to go force them down to dinner. Kenma knew Oikawa was probably falling asleep up there too, having showed up more than once with a key from the keyboard imprinted on his cheek. There were a lot of fake files with contradictory information on the computers, much to the trio’s annoyance. Kenma let out an irritated sigh, letting his head drop back onto the pillow behind him as he closed another useless file.

“Kitten, what evidence do I need to use?” Kuroo asked, looking up from the 3DS he’d borrowed.

“Use the victim’s file.” Kenma recited from memory, opening a new file. Kuroo made a triumphant noise, showing that was indeed the right answer.

“How’s the searching going, kitten?” Kuroo paused his game to look over Kenma’s shoulder.

“It’s going fine enough. Not really finding that much useful…infor..mation?” Kenma trailed off as he saw the title of the file.

“Player Contracts?” Kuroo read, frowning. Kenma scrolled down and was immediately greeted with a small image of Iwaizumi’s face.

“‘I, Iwaizumi Hajime, agree to the rules and dangers of the game. I understand the rules and the terms I am agreeing to, and agree to keep anything I learn during the game a secret until the game’s release.’” Kenma read aloud.

“That’s the contract we signed for the beta testing, yeah?” Kuroo squinted as he read the text.

“Mmhmm. I wonder how they got here…” Kenma scrolled down, seeing copies of all of their contracts inside. He hesitated on Daishou’s page.

“Do you think he’s okay?” Kenma asked, glancing up at Kuroo. He shrugged.

“Physically? Probably. Daishou’s good at watching out for himself. Mentally? Who knows? Mika went off the deep-end there, and who knows what she said to him at the end.” Kuroo sighed.

“ _Ding Dong! It’s 10 O’Clock! The cafeteria is now closed!”_ Monokuma’s familiar announcement interrupted their thoughts and Kenma sighed, closing the laptop. Kuroo made him promise day 1 of laptop-investigating that he wouldn’t stay up late using the laptop, and Kuroo had definitely made sure he kept that promise. The first night Kenma tried to stay up later, Kuroo had forced the laptop out of his hands and put it up high on the bookshelf where Kenma couldn’t reach. Now, Kenma just puts the laptop away himself. But he made sure to shower right after dinner so he’d be able to work right up to the good night announcement. Kuroo saved his game and closed the 3DS, attaching the charger and setting it on the nightstand.  
“Night, Kitten.” Kuroo yawned, flicking off the light. He pulled Kenma close to his chest, cuddling him close. Kenma snuggled down with a sigh, falling asleep quickly. His dreams were strange, yet again. He was in a cafeteria, different from the one in the school, and he was sitting next to Kuroo, with Akaashi and Bokuto sitting across from him.

“ _I do hope you aren’t making yourself a bother, Bokuto-san.”_ _Akaashi was scolding him lightly. Bokuto pouted._

_“I’m getting better! It was hard, Akaashi! Just seeing you, floating there. I swear, I don’t want to go anywhere NEAR a pool!” He whined. Kenma looked around the cafeteria, noting Oikawa and Iwaizumi sitting next to Tendou and Ushijima, and Mika and Daishou whispering in a corner spot._

_“Is everything alright, Kitten?” Kuroo asked, bringing Kenma out of his thoughts._

_“Yeah, everything’s fine…”_

“DING-DONG! _It’s 7 AM! The Cafeteria is open again!_ _Let’s have another B-E-A-UUUUTIFUL DAY!_ ” Kenma woke with a start, the Monokuma announcement ending as he blinked. Kuroo groaned, slowly waking up as well.

“I hate that bear’s voice. SO much.” He grumbled. Kenma nodded in agreement before he sat up, stretching. Kuroo whined, reaching for him but Kenma stood up quickly. He knew if he got up, Kuroo would get up faster too. Luckily, it’s reached the point where nobody judged each other for showing up in pajamas. Kenma at least threw on sweatpants and brushed his teeth, usually showering after breakfast. Kuroo yawned as he sat up, groaning.

“God 7 AM is unbearable.” Kenma snickered at Kuroo’s unintentional pun and tossed him a pair of sweatpants off the ground, hitting him in the face. Kuroo blinked but pulled the pants on. The two left the dorm soon after, walking to the cafeteria. They saw Sawamura dozing off on the table as Misaki and Michimiya talked in the kitchen. Sugawara waved as Kenma and Kuroo sat down, Kuroo winking at Kenma before poking Sawamura’s shoulder. He yelped as Sawamura just grabbed his arm, pulling it close and snuggling it. Sugawara covered his mouth with his hand, trying not to laugh too loudly and wake up Sawamura as Kuroo struggled to free his hand. Kenma quickly pulled out his phone and took a picture, snickering.

“Kenma, please. Why must you betray me like this?” He hissed, trying to pry open Sawamura’s grip with his free hand.

“Oh wow, are we interrupting?” Terushima teased as he strolled in, Tendou on his tail.

“Awwww isn’t that cute?” Tendou smirked, folding his arms. He also took out his phone and took several pictures, including a selfie.

“Seriously, fuck you. Sugawara, help me!” Kuroo whined. Sugawara rolled his eyes before reaching over and flicking Sawamura on his forehead.

“Dai. Let Kuroo have his arm back.” He said softly. Sawamura grumbled but his grip loosened enough for Kuroo to free his arm. Kuroo let out a sigh of relief, scooting away from Sawamura.

“Where’s Oikawa and Bokuto?” Kenma asked, looking around the room. Tendou let out a loud groan.

“Did they pull an all-nighter, AGAIN?! Teru, we might need to have a four-way sleepover to keep those two out of trouble.” Terushima snickered.

“I’ll have a four-way with you anytime, bro. No homo.” He waggled his eyebrows. Tendou laughed and shot him finger guns.

“All of the homo, my man. I’m gonna go get those two workaholics.” He turned and walked out, arms behind his head.

“I remember Kageyama saying Oikawa overworked himself, but I guess he does in more than just volleyball.” Sugawara shook his head, sighing. Kuroo opened his mouth to respond when they heard a scream. Almost immediately, everyone’s head whipped to the exit.

“W-Was that Tendou?!” Michimiya and Misaki hurried out of the kitchen, eyes wide.

“Shit.” Kuroo was up in an instant, sprinting out of the room. They all followed soon after, worried. They found Tendou on the second floor, back to the wall with the office door wide open. His eyes were wide and he was pale and shaking.

“Bo! Please, god no! Bokuto! Koutarou!” Kenma heard Kuroo crying and pushed his way through the crowd, making his way to the doorway. His eyes went wide as he saw Kuroo kneeling next to Bokuto, the owl-haired boy’s head turned a terrifying amount to the side. As Kuroo picked him up slightly, his head flopped around.

“ _Ding-Dong! A body has been discovered! There will be a brief investigation period before our trial!”_ ****


	15. Chapter 3- Investigation P1

“ _Ding-Dong! A body has been discovered! There will be a brief investigation period before our trial!”_

Kuroo slowly let Bokuto’s body slide back to the floor, his eyes wide.

“W-What? No way. Someone please tell me this is a lie.” Kenma slowly pulled Kuroo back, the taller teen letting himself get moved until Kenma got him seated in one of the chairs. The group slowly filtered in.

“Oh my god…” Sugawara gasped, tightly gripping Sawamura’s sleeve.

“ _Well, it’s not everyone but I’ll call it good enough! Heeeeere’s the Monokuma File!”_ Monokuma didn’t even bother showing up this time, the file just dropping out of the ceiling. Terushima yelped as he barely caught it. He tapped it open, reading aloud the file.

“Victim: Bokuto Koutarou. Cause of Death: Broken neck. Time of Death: 3:03 AM. Damn, that’s early.” Terushima blinked as he handed the file off to Misaki to read.

“We’d all be asleep.” Michimiya realized.

“So the killer had to know that Bokuto would be here…but wait, wouldn’t we have noticed if someone had left the room if we were paired up?” Sawamura frowned.

“Not everyone was in the dorms…” Kenma said slowly. There was a moment of silence.

“That motherfucker.” Kuroo growled, fists tightening.

“So Daishou hides out from the rest of us, saying he can’t trust us, but then turns around and KILLS someone!? What the fuck?!” Terushima scowled.

“We don’t know for sure it was Daishou. We need to investigate properly before we jump to conclusions.” Sugawara pointed out.

“Are you serious? Daishou’s literally the only person it could’ve been!” Terushima argued back. Kenma let the two of them argue as he took a look around the room. The binders that Bokuto had been going through were thrown across the floor. He noticed the desk lamp was missing. He approached the desk, peeking behind it. He saw the lamp shattered on the floor and unplugged. Kenma accidentally nudged the mouse as he moved to avoid the glass and the computer screens came to life. He blinked as he turned to see what was on the screen. He saw a file open and frowned.

“Did you find something, Kenma?” Misaki asked, following him behind the desk.

“The computer monitor fell asleep, which means someone was using it but didn’t shut it down.” He explained. Misaki leaned close to the screen.

“Do you think it’s important?” She asked. Kenma shrugged and glanced over the monitors. He could see the doorway and the group around it. He sat down in the chair and saw he couldn’t even see that, the monitors completely blocking the screen.

“Oikawa wouldn’t have even noticed someone walk in.” He realized. Misaki suddenly gasped and Kenma looked up.

“Oh my god. I can’t believe we forgot… Where’s Oikawa?!” Kenma’s eyes widened and he immediately stood up. There was no sign of the setter in the room, as the rest of the group seemed to realize.

“He might be in his dorm. I’ll go look!” Sugawara hurried out of the room, Michimiya right behind him.

“We’ll stay with the body. Take Kuroo and go look for him.” Sawamura ordered. Kenma nodded and hurried to Kuroo, grabbing his arm and tugging him out of the room. He knew it was probably a bad idea to leave him in the same room as the body of one of his best friends.

“I know you’re upset, Kuroo. But we need to find Oikawa.” Kenma said firmly. Kuroo nodded in agreement, the two making their way downstairs. They saw Sugawara and Michimiya outside the dorms, knocking on Oikawa’s door and calling his name.

“Where could he be…?” Kenma asked, looking around, trying to think. He suddenly froze as he saw someone leaving a door in the hall that led to the infirmary and supply room.

“Oikawa?” He called out. The person stiffened and immediately ran back into the room they had come from. Kenma and Kuroo exchanged looks before running down the hall, skidding to a stop in front of the door.

“Oikawa! Open up!” Kuroo called, banging on the door to the supply room. Kenma rolled his eyes and pushed the door open.

“There’s no lock, Kuroo.” He reminded him as he pushed his way in. Much to his surprise, Oikawa wasn’t the one inside the room.

“ _You_!” Kuroo’s voice was venomous as he stalked towards Daishou. Daishou’s eyes widened as he backed up quickly.

“K-Kuroo! I swear to god it wasn’t me!” He managed to get out before Kuroo punched him in the face. The snake-like teen stumbled backwards, holding a hand to his face, but Kuroo just grabbed him by the collar of his shirt.

“You motherfucker, why would I believe anything you say!? You _killed_ my best friend!” He growled. Daishou blinked, visibly confused.

“W-what?” His eyes flickered to Kenma, who bit his lip.   
“Don’t play dumb! You killed Bokuto!” Kuroo practically roared. Daishou’s eyes widened.  
“What? Bokuto’s dead?” He seemed just as shocked as everyone else. Kenma walked up to Kuroo, tugging on his sleeve.

“Kuroo. Kuroo, let him go! He didn’t do it!” Kuroo’s grip loosened and Daishou squirmed out of his grasp, his collar loose.

“He was the only one who wasn’t partnered with someone, how could he NOT have done it?!” Kuroo asked, obviously still pissed.

“Daishou. You said ‘it wasn’t me’. But you didn’t know Bokuto’s dead.” Kenma looked the teen in the eye. Daishou nodded, eyes still wide.

“I-I thought you were talking about Oikawa.” Both teens’ mouths dropped open.  
“W-What? Why the fuck would we be talking about Oikawa? He isn’t dead!” Kuroo pointed out. Daishou looked between the two of them, realizing they were entirely serious.

“Come with me.” He said grimly. He led them out of the supply room and towards the main lobby. Sugawara and Michimiya hurried over, having given up on trying to get into the dorms.

“Kenma, Kuroo! Daishou?” Sugawara skidded to a stop, obviously confused. The trio didn’t stop though, continuing into the theater.

“What’s going on?” Michimiya asked, but nobody answered.   
“He’s up here.” Daishou said quietly, going up the stairs to the projector room.

 _Where it all started_ , Kenma realized. The door still was leaning against the wall, Daishou slipping into the room past it.

“Let me go through first.” Kuroo gently put a hand on Kenma’s chest to stop him from sliding through. Kenma knew Kuroo still didn’t trust Daishou, but let him go first. He followed immediately after and froze in the doorway. Oikawa was hanging from the rafters, body swinging on a rope. Kenma spotted a piece of paper on the floor underneath him and he slowly approached, kneeling to pick it up.

“ _I’m sorry, Iwa-chan.”_ Kenma read.

“ _DING DONG! A body has been discovered!”_

 


	16. Chapter 3- Investigation P2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to those telling me when ao3 messes up the uploading process in the comments. You da MVP!

“ _Ding-Dong! A body has been discovered! There will be a brief investigation period before our trial!”_

Kenma’s eyes were glued to Oikawa’s swinging body. He heard a phone ring, and Sugawara answered.

“D-Daichi…. Yeah we um…found… We found Oikawa.” He answered weakly.

“C-Can someone just… take him down? I-I don’t want to look at that.” Michimiya turned away, covering her eyes. Kuroo nodded and walked to Oikawa’s body, reaching up to untie him.

“Wait.” Daishou took out his phone and took a quick picture.   
“For the trial.” He explained as Kuroo gave him a dirty look. Kuroo turned back to the body and untied it, gently setting it down on the ground.

“ _Wow you are giving me a workout!”_ Monokuma appeared out of nowhere, holding the familiar file in his arms.

“You didn’t even bring the last one to us personally. You just dropped it out of the ceiling.” Kenma pointed out, taking the Monokuma File.

“ _But I had to run to the spot in the ceiling in order to drop it off! Don’t assume things!”_ Monokuma scolded before vanishing. Kenma rolled his eyes and opened the file.

“Victim: Oikawa Tooru. Cause of Death: Asphyxiation. Time of Death: 3:06 AM. No other outside wounds.” He read aloud.

“Did he… you know…kill himself?” Michimiya asked, still not turning around.

“It’s possible. He left a note.” Kenma snapped a picture of the note he had found.

“Not to mention, this is where it all began, right? The events that led to ‘Iwa-chan’s’ death?” Daishou pointed out. Kenma shrugged as he knelt next to Oikawa’s body.

“You heard Monokuma. Don’t assume things.” He noticed the circular bruise around Oikawa’s neck with a tiny horizontal line in the middle, but nothing else. He had bags under his eyes and a familiar keyboard print on his cheek. Kenma took a picture, standing up and looking around.

“Daishou, how did you find him?” He asked. Daishou shifted uncomfortably.

“I-I’ve been sleeping in here. Figured nobody would come searching the theater for me. I left to go to the bathroom and when I came back he was just...there.” Daishou explained. Kuroo scowled.

“And instead of coming to find us, you went to hide in the supply room.” He spat. Daishou looked to the ground, ashamed.

“I knew you all would blame me. I mean, I know how it looks. I’m probably the only one without an alibi since I didn’t partner up with anyone. A-and now you’re saying Bokuto’s dead too.” Daishou ran a hand through his hair, obviously stressed. Kenma had to admit, he had a point. The teens who had stayed with Bokuto’s body were all suspicious of Daishou. Which was a valid train of thought. Kenma let out a frustrated sigh as he turned back to Oikawa’s body. He saw a chair knocked over a few feet away from the body and frowned. He took a picture before walking over and putting the chair up again, taking another picture.

“What’s on your mind, kitten?” Kuroo asked, watching Kenma walk around.

“The chair. Usually you’d stand on it and kick it away, right? It’s pretty far from where we found him.” Kenma explained, frowning. Kuroo shrugged, eyes flickering between the body and the chair.

“I’m more worried that you know details on how to commit suicide.” Sugawara spoke up. Kenma gave him an unamused look.

“It’s in a lot of detective anime and games nowadays. I’d be more worried if one of us didn’t know or have at least a small clue on it.” He shot back. Kenma turned back to the scene of the crime, picking up the rope. There was some fraying on the end, where the loop had been. Kenma took a picture of the rope, zooming in on the frays.

“I want to go back to the office. There’s something I want to find out before the trial starts.” Kenma put his phone in his pocket.

“Alright. We better hurry though.” Kuroo glanced at the time on his phone before following Kenma bak to the office.

“Kuroo, I want you to sit in the office chair.” He explained as they opened the office door. Kuroo frowned but did as he asked, pointedly not looking at Bokuto’s body on the floor. He took a seat in the chair, spinning around once.

“Sawamura, Oikawa is around Kuroo’s height right?” Kenma asked. Sawamura blinked before nodding.

“Probably an inch shorter or so. That might just be Kuroo’s hair though.” Kuroo made an offended noise. Sawamura smirked slightly at his response.

“Kuroo, put your head down like you were sleeping.” Kenma ordered. Kuroo did as he was told, lying his head on his arms and closing his eyes. Kenma went back outside the office and pushed the door in.

“Kitten? You still there?” Kuroo called out, opening an eye. Kenma frowned.

“You didn’t hear me leave and come back in?” He asked. Kuroo sat up, closing his eyes.

“Nope. Nothing. It was silent the whole time.” Kuroo said. Kenma nodded.

“ _Ding-dong! Investigation Time is up! Time for the class trial! You all know where to go!”_ The intercom crackled. The teens in the office exchanged looks before making their way to the elevator, Kuroo giving Bokuto’s body one last look before walking out, Kenma’s hand in his own.

“We’ll figure out who did this.” Kenma said firmly, squeezing Kuroo’s hand. Kuroo nodded, taking a deep breath.

“Definitely. We always do.” He smiled weakly. The rest of the group was waiting at the elevator, Daishou avoiding eye contact with everyone.

“This’ll be the easiest trial yet.” Terushima spat, glaring at Daishou. Misaki nodded, also sending the teen a dirty look.

“We can’t just assume it was Daishou. Even if he’s been less than trustworthy the entire time.” Sugawara pointed out, but even he sent Daishou a wary look. Kenma stayed quiet, watching them argue. They weren’t even at the trial yet and they were bickering.

“Oy. Shut up already. We’ll figure out if Daishou did it in the trial. Until we’re sure, he’s still one of us.” Kuroo scowled. Daishou looked up at him, surprised. Even Kenma was surprised. Kuroo never stood up for the snake-like teen, ever.

“Fine. I can’t wait to watch him get executed though.” Terushima growled before he stormed into the elevator. The rest of the teens walked in as well. Daishou paused and muttered a quick “thanks” to Kuroo before ducking into the elevator, staying in a corner far from the rest of the group. Kenma squeezed Kuroo’s hand as the entered, the door shutting behind them.

_This is it. Two of our friends were killed. Time to find out who killed Bokuto and Oikawa._


	17. Chapter 3- Class Trial

It was sad to see all the empty spots in the trial room. The stands were still as depressing as ever, Oikawa, Bokuto and Mika’s faces joining the blank stares of the pictures.

“ _Well, you guys know the drill! Someone killed Oikawa Tooru and Bokuto Koutarou! Find out who and take a vote!”_ Monokuma leaned back in his chair.

“Find out who? Isn’t it obvious!? Daishou is the only one without an alibi! Everyone else was sharing a room with each other!” Terushima snapped, glaring at Daishou. Daishou glared right back at him.

“Oh come on. Why the hell would I kill them!? It would’ve obviously been me!” He pointed out.

“That is a good point. Besides, didn’t Oikawa kill himself? He left a note and everything.” Michimiya pulled up the picture of the suicide note.

“’I’m sorry, Iwa-chan’? That’s what Oikawa called Iwaizumi, right?” Sawamura remembered. Sugawara nodded.

“Plus he was found in the projector room. That’s where Iwaizumi killed Ushijima, remember?” Sugawara added. Tendou frowned, folding his arms.

“So Oikawa killed Bokuto, then himself? Is that what I’m hearing?” Tendou asked, looking around.

“It’s possible. But doubtful.” Kenma decided, pulling up the two Monokuma files.  
“Bokuto died at 3:03 AM, and Oikawa died at 3:06 AM. There wouldn’t be enough time for Oikawa to get all the way to the theater and kill himself. Not to mention, he’d have to stop by the supply room to get the rope.” Kenma explained.

“So Oikawa didn’t kill Bokuto. But Bokuto would’ve noticed Oikawa leaving the office right?” Misaki looked confused. Kenma thought carefully.

“What if…Oikawa DIDN’T kill himself?” Kuroo suddenly spoke up. Everyone turned to him.

“What? What do you mean he didn’t kill himself?” Sawamura asked, frowning.

“Well, there’s a few things that were bugging me. First off, the suicide note. ‘Iwa-chan’? Wouldn’t Oikawa have written ‘Hajime’?” Kuroo began. Kenma’s mind flashed back to the first trial, when Oikawa had been desperate to save Iwaizumi.

_Suddenly a collar attached to a chain flew out, wrapping itself around Iwaizumi and pulling him from Oikawa’s arms._

_“HAJIME!” Oikawa shrieked. Sawamura and Sugawara were quick to grab him before he could run after him_.

“Oikawa called Iwaizumi by his first name when he was upset. So he definitely would’ve written ‘I’m sorry Hajime’, not Iwa-chan.” Kenma realized. Kuroo nodded.

“Secondly, Kenma was investigating the chair by his body. Didn’t you say it was weirdly far from where we found him hanging?” Kuroo continued. Kenma nodded, pulling up the picture he had taken.

“Usually the chair is tipped over right by the body, but the chair was a lot farther away than it should’ve been.” Kenma explained.

“So…Oikawa didn’t hang himself?” Sugawara’s eyes were wide. Kenma shook his head.

“There’s more. I don’t think he died in the projector room either.” He pulled up the close-up pictures of Oikawa he had taken.

“Is that an imprint of a key from a keyboard?” Tendou blinked. Kenma nodded.

“Oikawa fell asleep on the keyboard in the office before and had a similar imprint. So I think he had been sleeping there right before he died.” Kenma added.

“So that’s why he died so soon after Bokuto. They were in the same room.” Sawamura realized.

“Not to mention, the bruises on his neck don’t match the rope we found him with. The lines on the rope go diagonal. Whatever was used to kill him had a horizontal line.” Kenma pulled up the pictures of the bruises on Oikawa’s neck. Terushima squinted at it, frowning.

“It looks kinda like a cord.” He pointed out. Kenma’s eyes widened with realization.

“Oh. There was a broken desk lamp unplugged behind the desk. The culprit probably used it to strangle Oikawa.” Kenma winced slightly. It was probably painful, especially if it took at least 3 minutes.

“Oh wait! Kenma, didn’t you say the monitors had fallen asleep? Which means someone was probably using them! What if Oikawa had fallen asleep on the computer while using it, and that’s when someone came in and killed them?” Misaki suggested. Kenma had nearly forgotten about that.

“That’s right. And when I sat down, I couldn’t even see the door from behind the monitors.” He recalled.

“No offense Kenma, but you’re waaaaay shorter than Oikawa.” Tendou pointed out. Kuroo’s eyes widened.

“Oh, but we tried it again later though! I sat down and you had me lay down like I was asleep. I’m not much taller than Oikawa. And I didn’t even hear the door open and close, let alone see anything.” He said.

“So if Oikawa was asleep behind the monitors, he wouldn’t have noticed someone walk in and kill Bokuto. But if he wouldn’t have noticed, why would the killer go through the effort of killing Oikawa and moving him to the projector room?” Terushima asked, folding his arms. Kenma thought he saw him wince slightly at the action.

“To stage it as a suicide. After all, turning the crime into a murder-suicide would make their life easier.” Daishou suggested. Terushima narrowed his eyes at him.

“Oh, admitting to the crime now?” He asked. Daishou threw his hands up in the air.

“For the LAST time, I did not kill them!” He groaned.

“And for the LAST time, I’m gonna point out everyone else was sharing rooms with someone else! You were literally the only one who could’ve done it!” Terushima shot back.

_“So Daishou hides out from the rest of us, saying he can’t trust us, but then turns around and KILLS someone!? What the fuck?!” Terushima scowled._

_“We don’t know for sure it was Daishou. We need to investigate properly before we jump to conclusions.” Sugawara pointed out._

_“Are you serious? Daishou’s literally the only person it could’ve been!” Terushima argued back._

Kenma’s eyes widened as he turned, staring at Terushima.

“What?” He asked, catching Kenma’s gaze.

“Back when we discovered Bokuto’s body, you said Daishou was ‘literally the _only_ person it could have been’. But…we didn’t know Oikawa was dead at the time. How did you know Oikawa wasn’t the culprit?” Kenma asked slowly. Terushima was quiet as everyone turned to him.

“That’s true. You did say that. And this entire time you’ve been pushing the blame on Daishou.” Sugawara frowned. Terushima scowled.

“Because it’s obviously him! I was with Tendou, remember? He would’ve noticed if I left.” Terushima pointed out. Tendou blinked.

“Uhh I guess. I mean, you did nearly trip over me when you were going to the bathroom, but I didn’t notice you leaving.” Tendou rubbed the back of his neck.

“How could you have gone to the bathroom? Isn’t water turned off after 10 PM?” Michimiya asked, looking confused.

“That’s right! So you couldn’t have been going to the bathroom! You probably tripped over Tendou on your way back to bed after going to kill Oikawa and Bokuto.” Daishou glared at Terushima, who seemed to be getting uncomfortable with all the new facts popping up. His eyes flickered to Misaki, who was refusing to look at him.

“Okay, how about this then. If Daishou had been creeping around the theater, how did he NOT see me supposedly carry Oikawa into the projector room? I would’ve had to go through the theater to get there.” Terushima pointed out. Daishou huffed.

“I went to use one of the public bathrooms during the night. I don’t know what time that was, but it could’ve very well have been around 3. Not to mention, if I had seen someone I would’ve run away anyways. I mean, I WAS trying to avoid everyone.” Daishou reminded them.

“The real question is… why would Terushima kill Bokuto and Oikawa?” Sawamura asked. Terushima nodded.

“Yeah! See, Sawamura gets it! Why the hell would I kill them?!” He said, eager to prove his innocence. Daishou scowled, folding his arms.

“Unfortunately, I might have an idea.” He mumbled. Kenma turned to him, biting his lip.

“It’s what Mika told you, isn’t it?” He asked. Daishou nodded slowly.

“Mika…before she was…punished… She told me ‘I made the next one easy for you.’ I think she killed Akaashi to make Bokuto an easier target. Anyone who’s seen Fukurodani play knows about Bokuto and his moods and I guess she figured he’d act similarly without Akaashi.” He explained.

“So Mika killed Akaashi, so you’d be able to kill Bokuto.” Kuroo growled, fists clenched. Daishou shot him a look.

“As I’ve been saying, I DIDN’T kill them. I think someone else noticed Bokuto’s mood and figured he’d be an easy target. But they didn’t expect Oikawa to be in the office, or at least they didn’t expect him to wake up and notice them. So they had to take him out too.” Daishou continued. Kenma’s eyes flickered to Terushima, who had his fists clenched in the end of his jacket.

“Not to mention, didn’t the file say Bokuto had a broken neck? That’d be pretty loud. Especially the sound of his body falling. Oikawa would’ve waken up and noticed the killer and Bokuto’s body.” Sugawara added quietly.

“I still don’t see how this means I’M the killer.” Terushima grumbled.

“Yuuji. Let me see your hands.” Misaki suddenly spoke up. Terushima blinked, obviously confused.

“What?” He frowned. Misaki just walked over to him, grabbing his hands and unclenching them, turning them face up. There were painful-looking red burns on his palms.

“Are those…rope burns?” Michimiya asked, eyes wide. Misaki took a deep, shuddering breath.

“I’ve been your manager for two years, Yuuji. I know when you’re hiding pain. You winced earlier when your hands brushed against your sleeve.” Misaki explained, eyes filling with tears. Terushima just stood there, shocked.

“Rope burns, probably from hanging up Oikawa’s dead body.” Kuroo narrowed his eyes. Terushima just let his gaze fall, staying silent.

“I think we have our verdict, Monokuma.” Daishou said, folding his arms. Terushima’s head immediately whipped up, seeing nothing but grim faces around him.

“Yuuji…” His gaze fell back to Misaki, who was silently crying.

“You idiot. You stupid idiot.” She cried as their screens lit up with the voting option.

“ _Alrighty, kids. Iiiiit’s voting time!”_


	18. Chapter 3- End of Chapter

“ _Well well well. You kiddos are three for three! You make your GameMaster so proud~! The killer of Bokuto Koutarou and Oikawa Tooru is Terushima Yuuji!”_ Monokuma seemed to be the only one thrilled with the results.

“Are you serious? S-Seriously!? Terushima why would you…?!” Michimiya couldn’t even finish her sentence. Terushima let out a huff of air, folding his arms.

“It’s like Daishou said. Bokuto was supposed to be easy. He hardly registered what was going on around him. But when you guys got him going on reading the binders, I realized there wasn’t much time until he was back to normal. Probably would’ve been less sloppy otherwise.” He admitted. Kuroo growled and Kenma had a feeling he was going to punch Terushima in the face, but Misaki beat him to the punch, literally. Terushima fell on the ground, rubbing his cheek. Misaki’s face was a mix of anger and sadness.

“You are an idiot, Terushima Yuuji. What on earth made you think it was just fine to kill someone?! Let alone TWO people who considered you their friend!? What if they were Bobata? O-Or Futamata?! Did you even think about what you were doing!?” Tears started falling again as she scolded him.

“M-Misaki-senpai…” Terushima just looked up at her, eyes wide.

“And now… n-now…” Her eyes flickered to the red button in front of Monokuma, then back at the teen on the ground. Terushima stood up, approaching her.

“Don’t.” He froze when she took a step back. She looked up at him, the sadness gone and just disappointment in her eyes.

“Don’t apologize. Don’t make excuses. For once in your life, you are going to have consequences for your actions. And I’m not going to be able to save you from them.” She turned away, fists tight. Michimiya slowly approached her and pulled her into a hug, sending Terushima a glare. Terushima looked shocked and completely alone, nobody even trying to defend him from the oncoming punishment.

“ _Well, looks like it’s time to wrap things up! Iiiiit’s PUNISHMENT TIME!”_ Terushima didn’t even try to struggle as the collar came out, pulling him out of the trial room. Their screens flickered to life. Kenma felt himself drawn to watch, despite knowing it was going to end terribly. Michimiya kept Misaki’s head in her shoulder, keeping her from looking at her kouhai’s suffering. Terushima was in some kind of club, with bright lights and a colorful dance floor. There was a Monokuma DJ in the background and a large disco ball on the ceiling.

“Johzenji likes to party.” Sawamura remembered, a grim look on his face. Terushima stood on a green square on the dance floor. The Monokuma DJ suddenly clicked a button and the floor descended into chaos. Red squares erupted into flames, yellow squares sent spears flying and blue squares crackled with electricity. The green squares seemed harmless. Terushima seemed to realize the same thing, so when his own square began to change color he jumped to the next green square, narrowly avoiding flames. His hand barely touched a blue square and his body seized up slightly, Terushima wincing in pain as he was shocked.

“This is like demonic twister.” Daishou muttered, eyes wide. The colors began to change faster, Terushima barely keeping up. Kenma almost felt like he had a chance. Terushima was quick and only got hit a few times. The group flinched simultaneously as a spear flew out of a yellow square, impaling Terushima’s leg and retracting just as quick. This impeded Terushima’s speed incredibly, the teen missing more and more green squares and getting burned, shocked and stabbed repeatedly. Suddenly, the entire floor turned green and Terushima collapsed, breathing heavily as blood pooled out of his wounds. The Monokuma DJ threw his record, looking annoyed. The record went flying and cut the cord to the disco ball, sending it crashing to the floor right on top of Terushima. The bottom shattered, but the top of the disco ball kept them from seeing Terushima’s body. All they saw was an arm sticking out and impaled with glass before the screen went to black.

“ _That was one hell of a party! I nearly broke a sweat!”_ Monokuma popped back up in his seat, the DJ headphones still on his head. Nobody said anything. Monokuma looked around the group.

“ _Wowie Zowie, you guys are so depressing! I thought you’d be happier knowing you won again!”_ Michimiya tightened her grip on Misaki as the girl cried harder.

“We lost three more friends, why the hell would we be happy?!” Sugawara spat, angrier than Kenma’s ever seen. Monokuma cocked his head.

“ _Friends? What kind of friends kill each other so easily? I haven’t even had to give you kids a motive yet!”_ He pointed out. Kenma winced, looking at the floor. That was terrifyingly true. In the games, the characters had never killed each other until a motive was presented. But now, in this game? Monokuma never had to provide a motive for it. All the murders had happened so easily and so quickly.

“You gave us one big motive that’s affected us overall. You trapped us in this school in the first place!” Daishou pointed out, scowling.

“Yeah! Daishou’s right! This is all Monokuma’s fault!” Tendou glared at the bear. Monokuma began laughing and both boys’ determination slid off their faces.

“ _I can’t believe you idiots haven’t realized it yet!”_ The bear kept laughing as everyone looked at him, confused. Even Misaki pulled away from Michimiya slightly to look.

“ _I’m a very handsome ROBOTIC bear. Which means someone has to be in control of me~! They might be prettier or more handsome than me for all you know! And how about I give you a big ol’ hint?_

_The person controlling me and the one behind you being trapped here, is one of you!”_


	19. Chapter 4- School Life P1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Current Survivors: Sugawara, Sawamura, Michimiya, Kenma, Kuroo, Tendou, Misaki, Daishou

“ _The person controlling me and the one behind you being trapped here, is one of you!”_

Monokuma’s voice kept ringing through Kenma’s head. When Kuroo went to follow him into his room, Kenma stopped him.

“I-I…want to sleep alone tonight.” Kenma mumbled, not looking him in the eyes. He could tell Kuroo was hurt, but the taller teen just went next door to his own room. Kenma shut the door, making sure to lock it, before letting out a deep sigh. He sat down on the bed, flopping down.

 _I know Kuroo’s not the mastermind…but why does it still feel off? Can I even trust anyone?_ He wondered, tossing his phone onto the nightstand and noticing the 3DS Kuroo had been playing. He glared at it and turned away, covering his head with his blankets, trying to fall asleep.

_“Iwa-chaaaan!” Oikawa practically tackled Iwaizumi in a hug. The grumpy teen didn’t even seem upset, just wrapping his arms around him tight. Oikawa buried his face in the shorter teen’s shoulder. Bokuto peeked his head in the room, eyes wide._

_“Bokuto-san!” Bokuto perked up when he saw Akaashi running towards him,_

_“Akaaaashi!” Bokuto grabbed the teen and swung him around happily. As soon as he was back on the ground, Akaashi jabbed Bokuto in the side._

_“You are a fool, Bokuto. You shouldn’t let my death burden you so badly.” He scolded. Bokuto blinked, cocking his head.  
“But you mean everything to me, Akaashi. So if you died, I’d be left with nothing.” He said it matter-of-factly. Akaashi blushed, looking away._

_“Y-You… D-Don’t say such things, Bokuto.” He mumbled, embarrassed. Bokuto grinned, wrapping Akaashi in another hug._

_“Awww are you embarrassed Akaashi? Hey hey! You dropped the –san!” He realized, laughing happily._

Kenma woke with a start, sitting up. His shirt was sticking to his shirt and he felt uncomfortably warm. These dreams were surreal. They felt so real, but they couldn’t be. Bokuto…Akaashi… they were all dead. Kenma saw their bodies.

 _I’d rather have nightmares than these._ Kenma grumbled to himself, reaching for his phone to check the time. 6:58 AM. The announcement would be going off any moment now, and there’d be more areas to explore for sure. Kenma winced as he realized he’d have to face Kuroo again, after blatantly showing distrust towards him the night before. He wondered if anyone else felt similarly. There were only eight of them left, and one of them was the mastermind.  
“ _Ding Dong! It’s now 7 AM! The cafeteria is open!”_ Kenma sighed as he got out of bed. He decided to shower first, trying to delay the inevitable. He took his time in the shower before making his way to the cafeteria. He was the last one to arrive, and the cafeteria was silent, aside from a hushed conversation between Sawamura and Sugawara. Daishou apparently had decided to show up this time, but he sat away from the two Karasuno teens. Tendou was half-asleep on the table, head in his arms. His hair wasn’t styled for the day yet.

“Kenma!” He was suddenly wrapped in a huge hug. Kenma squirmed before he realized it was Kuroo.

“God I was worried. You’re never the last one to arrive, I thought you were dead! W-Wait is your hair wet? You didn’t properly towel it off after showering, did you?” Kuroo scolded, cutting off his own ramblings. Kenma managed to free himself from Kuroo’s grip.

“I toweled well enough.” Kenma mumbled, confused. Kuroo was acting totally normal. He sat down in the cafeteria, Kuroo sitting close by.

“Misaki and Michimiya are making breakfast as usual.” Sawamura nodded at the two as they sat down, then went back to his hushed conversation with Sugawara. Tendou suddenly sighed dramatically, leaning on his arm on the table.

“Okay. We’re not going to ignore this.” He said. Kuroo blinked, frowning.

“’this’?” He asked. Tendou rolled his eyes.

“What the bear said? About one of us being the mastermind? Right after he mentioned not having to give us a motive for murder?” Tendou reminded them. Not that he had to, there was no way anyone would’ve forgotten that.

“You sound like you don’t believe him.” Daishou raised an eyebrow. Tendou shrugged.

“Why would I believe the bear that trapped us in here and laughed as we killed each other?” He pointed out. He made a good point and Kenma felt ridiculous. He reached down and took Kuroo’s hand in his own, squeezing it.

“You’re right. We shouldn’t turn on ourselves. That’s what Monokuma wants.” Kenma said firmly. Kuroo looked down at him with a smile.

“He was right about having someone control him, but I don’t think it’s one of us.” Kenma continued. Sugawara blinked.

“So we just need to figure out who? We’re high schoolers, it’s not like we have a lot of enemies who could even pull anything like this off.” He tapped his fingers on the table, biting his lip.

“There’s probably stuff on the computer still. We just need to…need…to…” Tendou blinked a few times, trailing off midsentence.

“Tendou?” Daishou reached across the table, poking him. To their surprise, Tendou just fell backwards, collapsing on the ground.

“Tendou!” Sugawara was up in an instant, hurrying over. He reached down and felt Tendou’s forehead, wincing.

“He’s burning up! We need to get him to the infirmary!” Sawamura ran over to help as well. There was suddenly a yelp from the kitchen.   
“Hana-chan?!” Michimiya shrieked. Kenma and Kuroo exchanged looks and got up to move to the kitchen. But when Kenma took the first step, he suddenly felt dizzy. He fell forward, barely catching himself on Kuroo’s back. Kuroo immediately turned around, catching him.

“Kitten? Kenma what’s wrong?” Kuroo asked, looking incredibly worried. Kenma opened his mouth to response, but he just winced instead, his head spinning. He felt a cold hand on his forehead and nuzzled into it.

“Kenma’s got a temperature too, and I bet Misaki just collapsed too. We need to get them to the infirmary. Daishou, go help Michimiya.” Kuroo ordered, picking Kenma up in his arms. Sawamura and Sugawara supported Tendou in between them and the group began making their way to the infirmary. Kenma barely registered Kuroo setting him down on the infirmary bed, but he whimpered when Kuroo pulled the covers over him. He went to throw them off, feeling too hot, but Kuroo just pulled them back on.

“I know you’re hot, kitten, but you’re shivering. I-I’ll get your 3DS and make you medicine and tea and everything will be alright. So don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.” Kuroo stroked his hair, worry still clear in his eyes. Kenma nodded, feeling exhausted. He vaguely saw the door open and Daishou walk in carrying Misaki before he fell asleep again.


	20. Chapter 4- School Life P2

_“I literally cannot believe you!” Kenma was sitting in the other cafeteria. Iwaizumi was being restrained by Ushijima, Oikawa grabbing one of his arms and Terushima on the ground._

_“D-Dude! You killed Ushijima, Tendou didn’t punch you in the face!” Terushima whined. Kenma noticed a bruise forming on his cheek._

_“Terushima-san is right, Iwaizumi-san.” Iwaizumi stopped struggling as Akaashi walked forward, Bokuto on his tail. The two were holding hands. Akaashi let go of Bokuto’s hand, offering it to Terushima. Terushima accepted it, letting Akaashi pull him to his feet._

_“Just like how nobody punished Mika-chan for killing me when she woke up.” Akaashi pointed out. Suddenly, his eyes narrowed and he reeled back before punching Terushima in the nose. The boy fell with a yelp, grabbing his now-bleeding nose._

_“However, I am not Iwaizumi or Tendou. And you will apologize to Bokuto.” He practically growled, glowering down at Terushima. The teen paled, scrambling back._

_“O-Okay! I-I’m sorry, Bokuto! A-And Oikawa!” Bokuto laughed, slinging an arm around Akaashi’s shoulders._

_“Akaashi, I love you and it is hella hot to see you all protective of me. But the kid got executed, let him be.” Akaashi made an ‘hmmph’ noise and let Bokuto steer him away, sending Terushima a wink._

Kenma woke up, groaning. His weird dreams kept occurring, and the only good thing about them was that he doesn’t feel like absolute shit during them. The others had been taking turns playing nurse, rotating out to rest. There was always at least one person with the sick people at all times. The curtains were drawn around them to try and contain the germs to avoid getting them even sicker.

“Hey, kitten. I got you water.” Kuroo whispered. He had learned the first time he woke Kenma up that loud noise just made his headache worse, so they kept their voices down. Kuroo helped Kenma sit up and handed him the cup of water, nearly chugging it after the first sip made him realize how thirsty he was.

“W-What’s going on with everyone else?” Kenma asked, his voice raspy. It hurt to talk.

“Michimiya’s working on soup and rice, easy stuff on the stomach after Tendou threw up earlier. Sugawara’s working on getting more ice packs and the other two are working on getting clothes for you guys to change into, since your gross sweaty ones are probably uncomfortable.” Kuroo explained. Kenma nodded, lying back down. His ice pack had melted long ago and was sitting on the small table next to him.

“I feel like shit.” Kenma said bluntly. Kuroo chuckled.

“You always do when you get sick. I’ll go get you some medicine, okay? Just go back to sleep.” Kenma nodded, already feeling exhausted just from the effort of sitting up and lying back down. He saw Kuroo get up and leave before he fell asleep again.

_“I can’t believe you punched Daishou! Like, you two argue all the time but it wasn’t until I died to get you to actually punch him?” Bokuto snickered. Kuroo pouted slightly, punching Bokuto in the arm._

_“Oy! I thought he killed you! That’s different than him just making fun of my hair.” He argued. Kenma rolled his eyes at the two of them._

_“Didn’t Akaashi punch Terushima over your death as well? Apparently you inspire a lot of people.” Sugawara chuckled._

_“Of course! That’s why I’m a captain!” Bokuto puffed his chest out proudly._

_“It is true Bokuto inspires us on the court. Most of the time.” Akaashi leaned on his hand, smirking slightly as Bokuto pouted._

_“Akaaaashi what do you mean_ most _of the time?! I’m always totally inspiring!” He whined. Kenma glanced around the room, noting Mika and Daishou sitting across from Terushima and Misaki, talking and laughing. He flinched as he felt something wet hit his face._

_“What’s wrong Kitten?” Kuroo asked, glancing over at him. Kenma shook his head, wiping nothing off his cheek._

_“I thought I felt something hit me…” He mumbled. He looked around in confusion when the feeling occurred again._

_“W-What?” He mumbled. Suddenly the doors to the cafeteria opened and Kenma saw people with nametags dash in._

_“Break is over.” Almost immediately the mood dampened. Kuroo reached over and took Kenma’s hand._

_“It’ll be okay Kitten. I’ll take care of you. Don’t worry Kenma…”_

_“Kenma”_

_“-ma”_

“KENMA!” Kenma woke with a start, Kuroo’s face alarmingly close to his own.

“W-What?” He mumbled, still half-asleep.

“Jesus fuck Kenma. Don’t scare me like that.” Kuroo visibly relaxed, letting out a deep breath. Kenma sat up, confused. He felt a lot better, aside from the headache still ringing in his head.

“Scare you like what?” Kenma asked, frowning. Kuroo’s eyes widened.

“Kitten, you have blood on your face.” Kenma blinked, reaching up to touch his cheek. He pulled his hand away, noting the red smeared on it.

“I-It’s not mine.” He realized, still staring at it. Kuroo opened his mouth to respond, but went silent when he heard a dripping sound. Kenma and Kuroo stared at each other with wide eyes before turning to the curtain surrounding the bed next to Kenma’s. Kuroo reached over and opened it revealing…

“It’s empty.” Kuroo sighed.

“I-It shouldn’t be empty! That’s Tendou’s bed!” Kenma started to get out of bed, but Kuroo pushed him back down.

“You’re sick, Kenma! You need to rest!” He frowned. Kenma rolled his eyes, simply climbing off the bed on the other side.

“I feel fi-“He yelped as he slipped, barely catching himself on the side of the bed. Kuroo scrambled over to the other side of the bed but skidded to a stop. Kenma looked down and gulped when he saw what he had slipped on. A puddle of blood. The two teens exchanged worried looks before Kenma reached over and peeked through the curtain. He immediately closed it, gagging as he scrambled away, towards Kuroo. Kuroo grabbed him and held him close. Kuroo took a deep breath and slowly reached out to open the curtain. Misaki was lying on the bed, eyes wide and her body covered in blood. Her arm was dangling off the bed, blood dripping down it. A bloody scalpel was stabbed in her chest and her throat was slit.

“Kuroo, I have more wa-“ Michimiya trailed off when she saw the scene. She dropped the tray she was holding, the glasses falling to the floor and shattering as she screamed in horror.

“ _Ding dong! A Body had been discovered!”_


	21. Chapter 4- Investigation

“ _Ding Dong! A body had been discovered! After a brief investigation period, we shall have our trial!”_ The announcement faded. Kenma couldn’t take his eyes away from Misaki’s body. It was covered in blood, the inside of the curtains stained as well.

“Michimiya, why don’t you go get the others?” Kuroo suggested, eyes wide as he pulled Kenma close to him. Michimiya nodded, looking like she was about to faint. But she pulled herself together and ran off.

“I-I was right there and didn’t hear a thing…” Kenma mumbled. Kuroo stroked his hair gently.

“It’s fine, Kitten. At least you aren’t hurt. We’ll figure out who did this.” Kuroo turned him around, forcing Kenma to look away. They heard footsteps before everyone else dashed in the room.  
“Jesus Christ.” Sawamura immediately turned away after spotting Misaki’s body.

“T-That’s brutal. Like, holy shit.” Daishou’s eyes were wide. Sugawara turned away, covering his mouth with his hand.  
“I’m just…I-I’m gonna go wait with Michimiya.’ He said, walking back out of the room.

“ _Alrighty kiddos. For those of you not too squeamish, I have a prize!”_ Monokuma dropped the file through the ceiling again. Kuroo caught it, barely managing to catch it.

“ _Man am I glad I don’t have to go near the body! Have fun investigating!”_ Monokuma laughed. Kuroo scowled but opened the file.

“Victim: Misaki Hana. Cause of death: Blood loss. Time of death: 3:40 PM. Other Wounds: multiple lacerations on arms, legs, torso… Jesus she is messed up.” Kuroo winced, closing the file.

“So um… where should we start?” Sawamura asked, still not looking at the body.

“You three go find Tendou. We’ll stay and investigate here.” Kenma didn’t really want to investigate the bloody body, but someone had to.

“Wait, find Tendou? He isn’t here?!” Daishou’s eyes widened as he dashed to the bed Tendou had been lying on, flinging open the curtain to reveal the empty bed.

“There’s blood here.” Daishou took a step back. Kenma blinked, having not noticed that before and walked over.

“Sawamura, you guys need to find Tendou now.” He said firmly, spotting the bloodstain next to the pillow. He pulled out his phone to take a picture as Sawamura hurried out of the room.

“Do you think Tendou’s dead too?” Kuroo asked, biting his lip. Kenma shrugged, but was actually worried. After all, in a room of three people, it’s definitely suspicious to be the only one still alive. He sneaked a peek at Daishou and could tell he was thinking the same thing.

“So, when did you guys find Misaki?” Daishou asked, turning to the bloody scene.

“I brought Kenma water at about 3:30 PM. Everything was fine. Then I leave to go get medicine, and when I come back, there was blood on his cheek and I woke him up from his nap. We heard a dripping noise and we found Misaki. Michimiya walked in afterwards and that’s when the announcement went off.” Kuroo explained. Kenma wrinkled his nose, remembering he had blood on his face.

“I need a washcloth.” He grabbed one of the ones that had been on his forehead, wiping the blood off his cheek.

“There’s blood on the inside of the curtains.” Daishou snapped a picture, the only one who was willing to get close to the body.

“So they were closed when she was stabbed?” Kuroo asked, taking a few steps forward to peek.

“Must have been. Do you think it’s safe to assume the scalpel killed her? I don’t really see another sharp object nearby.” Daishou looked around, frowning.

“If there’s nothing else nearby, then I’d say it’s a safe theory. But when has a murder gone this easily while we investigated?” Kuroo pointed out. Daishou chuckled.

“Valid point.” It was bizarre, seeing the two working together without any arguing or insults. Kenma was wondering if he was still sick and this was all a hallucination. Or another weird dream.

“How long did it take for you to get medicine? Shouldn’t it be right here in the room?” Kenma asked, glancing up at the cupboards.

“Oh yes, because you would’ve been more than happy to take gross, bitter-tasting medicine. I went to go add honey to it to make it taste better.” Kuroo explained, folding his arms. Kenma huffed, opening the cupboards and taking a picture of the medicines.

“Oh gross, there’s blood on the floor.” Daishou wrinkled his nose, stepping back.

“There’s a footprint.” Daishou snapped a picture.

“It might be mine. I slipped on it when getting out of bed earlier, right before we discovered Misaki.” Kenma remembered.

“It’s a little far from where her hand was dripping.” Daishou noted, getting a picture from another angle.

“So is the blood not from Misaki?” Kuroo asked, blinking.

“I can’t exactly DNA test the blood, Kuroo.” Daishou scowled, standing up.

“I know that! I’m asking for your personal opinion.” Kuroo snapped. Kenma decided he liked it better when they were getting along, much more than when they were arguing.

“And my personal opinion is who knows? Maybe Misaki’s blood dripped off the curtains. Maybe the killer was dripping blood and standing there. Who knows?!” Daishou stepped forward, cursing when he hit the end of Kenma’s bed. There was a clattering noise, barely heard over Kuroo’s chuckling. The three looked at each other before Daishou knelt down, looking under the bed.

“Kenma…” Daishou said slowly, standing up to walk around towards the front of the bed.

“What?” Kenma asked, blinking. Daishou knelt down again and reached under the bed, pulling out a bloody knife.  
“Why was this under your pillow?” He asked slowly.

“ _Ding Dong! Investigation Time is over! It’s tiiiiime for our trial!”_


	22. Chapter 4- Class Trial

Kenma was worried. He knew he definitely didn’t kill Misaki. But it would take a lot to convince the others. Daishou kept sending him suspicious looks and Kuroo wouldn’t hold his hand. _KUROO_ wouldn’t hold his hand. Kenma even tried instigating it, and Kuroo just pulled away, shaking his head.

“Not right now, Kitten.” He had mumbled. That had hurt more than anything else.

“Did you not find Tendou?” Kuroo asked Sugawara, the group waiting outside the elevator.

“No. We didn’t even find a body. And we looked everywhere.” Sugawara bit his lip, obviously concerned.

“Trials are mandatory. If he’s still alive, Monokuma will get him.” Kenma didn’t look up at anyone, letting his hair cover his face. The elevator doors opened and they moved in, still no sign of their red-haired friend. They were silent on the way down to the trial room. The Karasuno teens could tell something had happened during the investigation, the tension thick amongst the three who had been left behind.

“He isn’t here.” Michimiya whimpered as they entered the trial room.

“There isn’t a replacement stand for him either though.” Sawamura pointed out as they took their spots. There was a blank spot where Tendou would’ve stood. Misaki and Terushima had stands in their spots now. The trial room was painfully empty, only five people left in the group. There were more stands than people at this point.

“ _Alrighty kids! You know the drill. Someone here killed Misaki Hana and you gotta figure out who!”_ Monokuma cheered from his usual seat.

“What about Tendou? We can’t start without him.” Sugawara frowned.

“ _Lazy kids who don’t bother to show up for class don’t get to participate!”_ Monokuma pouted slightly.

“That makes…absolutely no sense.” Daishou blinked.

“ _I don’t care! It’s not important!”_ Monokuma folded his little arms.

“It’s very important, actually. If Tendou is dead, it makes our job easier.” Daishou scowled.

“Wait, what do you mean by that?” Kuroo asked, but Kenma already knew what Daishou meant.

“If Tendou is dead, the amount of people who could have pulled it off is dropped from three to two.” Daishou explained. Kenma’s eyes widened.

“Two?” He knew Daishou was suspicious about him but…

“If we assume Kenma was asleep the whole time, then the only one who entered the infirmary when Misaki died was Kuroo. But if Kenma wasn’t asleep, then he could’ve killed her before Kuroo showed up.” Daishou continued. Kuroo’s mouth dropped and Kenma gripped his stand tightly.

 _If we try to defend ourselves, we’re condemning each other_. He realized.

“But what if Tendou’s alive?” Sawamura pointed out.

“Then it could’ve been any of them. But if Tendou’s alive, Monokuma would’ve dragged him down here to be with us.” Daishou argued.

“I’m sorry, can we go back to the whole ‘it has to be Kuroo or Kenma’ thing? Cuz Kenma was stuck in bed with a fever and Michimiya saw me go in the kitchen to get honey.” Kuroo scowled, folding his arms.

“Maybe we should start at the beginning before we start accusing people?” Sugawara intervened, giving Kuroo and Daishou firm looks.

“Fine. Let’s start at the beginning.” Daishou tapped his screen and the Monokuma File appeared.

“Michimiya was killed at 3:40 PM. Sugawara and Michimiya were making food the sick people could keep down and working on ice packs while Sawamura and I were getting them a change of clothes. Kuroo was the nurse at the time.” Daishou began.

“I brought Kenma water and then went to get medicine. But Kenma always hated taking medicine because it tasted bitter, so I went to put honey in it. Michimiya and Sugawara can both vouch for that.” Kuroo added. Both teens nodded.

“After that, Kuroo came back to the infirmary and woke me up, freaking out because he saw blood on my cheek. That’s when we found Tendou missing and Misaki’s body.” Kenma finished.

“Why was there blood on your cheek? Are you hurt?” Michimiya asked, eyes wide. Kenma shook his head.

“No, I’m fine. I don’t know where the blood came from. Like I said earlier, I was asleep.” He reiterated, emphasizing on the ‘asleep’ part.

“Or so you say.” Daishou muttered, earning a glare from Kenma.

“Okay, so Tendou was gone by the time Kuroo came back with medicine. Is there a chance he was gone before then?” Sawamura asked.

“We didn’t check the bed until Kuroo came back, so I don’t know.” Kenma mumbled.

“Well what else DO we know? How did Misaki died?” Michimiya asked, glancing back down at the Monokuma File.

“Blood loss. She had a lot of knife wounds, plus a scalpel sticking out of her chest.” Kuroo explained.

“So someone took a scalpel and just….” Sugawara trailed off.

“Not necessarily.” Kenma winced, knowing exactly where Daishou was going.

“What do you mean, not necessarily?” Sawamura frowned.

“I bumped into the end of Kenma’s bed and something clattered to the floor. I found this, probably hidden under his pillow.” Daishou pulled up the picture of the bloody knife. The three teens who hadn’t investigated gasped.

“I-Is that…? That’s a knife! Why was there a bloody knife under Kenma’s pillow?!” Sugawara asked, eyes wide.

“I. Don’t. Know. I’ve told you guys, I was asleep.” Kenma repeated.

“That’s what you’re saying but...” Michimiya bit her lip, looking down at the floor.

“Kenma’s always been the one investigating and we’ve followed along. It would’ve been easy to miss, especially if he never pointed it out.” Sawamura said slowly. Kenma’s eyes widened, looking around.

“W-wait… I didn’t kill anyone! How would I have moved Tendou? He’s twice my size.” Kenma pointed out.

“Tendou could be an entirely different situation all together. He could be dead somewhere else, having witnessed you killing Misaki and going to run.” Daishou suggested.

“B-But Kenma’s not a fast runner. He’s always in the back when we run!” Kuroo argued.

“But Tendou was sick! He threw up earlier, he would’ve been in no condition to run full speed.” Daishou shot back.

“Not to mention…Kenma had blood on him, you said so yourself. And you had left the room at one point. That would have given you enough time to kill Misaki.” Sugawara spoke up, a sad look on his face.

“S-Sugawara?” Kenma’s voice cracked as he looked up, but the ashen-haired teen wouldn’t meet his gaze.

“The knife was under your pillow. We wouldn’t have found it if Daishou hadn’t accidentally knocked it off your bed. Not to mention, you were the one who suggested we split up, so only Daishou and Kuroo were with you to investigate.” Sawamura added.

“That was so we could find out if Tendou was alive or dead! Not to cover up a murder!” Kenma was getting nervous. He _knows_ he didn’t kill anyone. But at this rate, everyone would vote for him and they’d all die.

“I think….I-I think we’re ready to vote.” Michimiya said quietly, tears running down her cheeks.

“W-what? H-Hold on! We’re missing something. I’m not the killer!” Kenma protested. His eyes flickered to Kuroo, who was staring at him.

“….I’m sorry kitten.” His heart broke when he saw Kuroo look away, the voting screen appearing on the screen.

“ _Well, you know how it works! Tap the screen to choose who you think did it!”_

 


	23. Chapter 4- End of Chapter

“ _Iiiit’s time to vote!”_ Kenma’s mind was racing, trying to figure out the truth, figure out some way to keep them from screwing up.

“Hold it!” Everyone froze as the door to the room burst open. Tendou stumbled in, red hair a mess and covered in blood. He was panting and nearly collapsed as he made his way to his stand.

“T-Tendou!?” Sugawara ran over, but Tendou pushed him away.  
“D-Don’t! I just…I…” He winced as he grabbed his head. He smacked it a couple times as the group watched in awe.

“Tendou, where have you been?” Sawamura asked, eyes wide.

“Dark…so dark a-and cold!…but then…? Not? I just knew…needed to get here.” Tendou was rambling, his eyes flickering back and forth amongst the group.

“What the hell? I can’t understand what he’s saying.” Daishou said what they were all thinking, his eyes blinking in confusion.

“Tendou-san? Why are you covered in blood?” Michimiya asked, biting his lip.

“Blood…? Blood. So much blood. Pretty red…looks pretty on her… No no I shouldn’t do that, she’s a friend…” Tendou kept muttering to himself.

“’Don’t do that’? W-Wait, Tendou, what shouldn’t you do?” Kuroo prodded, eyes wide. Tendou went silent as he looked up at them.

“I shouldn’t have killed Misaki-chan. Misaki-chan was nice. She gave me hot chocolate.” He said firmly. The room went quiet.

“D-Did he just…?” Sawamura sputtered.

“He just admitted to killing Misaki.” Kenma said softly.

“A-are you serious?! How can we take anything he’s saying seriously when he’s like this?” Daishou pointed out.

“Oh, so Tendou shows up covered in blood and straight up admits he killed Misaki, and that’s unbelievable? But Kenma being asleep and not seeing the crime happened is totally bizarre and an OBVIOUSLY a lie?” Kuroo scowled.

 _Oh, now Kuroo’s on my side._ Kenma thought bitterly, doing his best not to glare at him.

“Tendou, where were you? Why didn’t you show up until now?” Sugawara asked gently, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I was with Wakatoshi.” Tendou blinked. Sugawara frowned.

“Wakatoshi…That’s Ushijima-san, right? There’s no morgue in the building, is there?” He asked, turning to the group.

“Um, there might be by the biology lab. Misaki and Terushima had searched the labs, so we didn’t really go look. But if there was a morgue, it’d probably be there.” Kuroo remembered.

“So what if Tendou was hiding in the morgue? If we didn’t know it existed, we wouldn’t have looked there for him.” Sawamura realized.

“I can’t believe it…we were so close to voting wrong.” Michimiya covered her mouth with her hand, eyes wide.

“Wakatoshi’s gonna be mad…” Tendou curled in on himself, shaking.

“It’ll be okay Tendou. He won’t be upset.” Sugawara said softly, kneeling next to him. Tendou looked up at him, eyes wide and innocent.

“R-Really?” He asked, voice cracking.

“Yeah. Really.” Sugawara stood up again, wiping away tears in his eyes.

“We need to vote.” He said firmly. They turned back to their screens, the voting screen still lit.

“ _Are you guys actually ready this time? Anyone else want to burst in and interrupt?”_ Monokuma sounded annoyed. There were no more interruptions, nobody else to come running in. Kenma took a deep breath before tapping the screen. The vote was unanimous again, everyone voting for Tendou.

“ _Well, wasn’t that a close one? You guys are absolutely correct yet again! The killer of Misaki Hana is none other than Tendou Satori!”_ Monokuma laughed happily.

“This feels unfair. I-It doesn’t feel right.” Kenma muttered, avoiding looking at the red-haired teen.

“It never felt right voting for anyone else.” Kuroo moved over to Kenma, going to pull him close, but Kenma stepped away.

“You were going to vote for me!” He scowled. Kuroo blinked.

“I…” He didn’t seem to know what to say.

“I trusted you. But you gave up on me.” Kenma felt something wet run down his cheeks and realized he was crying. Kuroo walked over and pulled him close, holding him tight.  
“I _never_ gave up on you. Don’t you ever think that.” Kuroo said firmly. Kenma tried to pull free, but Kuroo’s grip tightened.

“You were going to vote for me.” His voice cracked. Kuroo chuckled and Kenma looked up at him, noticing the sad smile on him.

“I’d never vote for you, Kitten. And I would never had sat still and watch you get executed. I was gonna run right after you, even if it meant I died too.” He leaned down and gave Kenma a kiss on the top of his head. Kenma buried his face in Kuroo’s chest.

“ _Okay. Ew. Gross. Get a room. Stop ruining my mojo.”_ The two teens turned, glaring at Monokuma, who was glaring right back.

“ _Ignoring the two lovebirds, it’s time for everyone’s favoooorite part! Iiiit’s Punishment Time!”_ Tendou didn’t even seem to register the words, still curled in on himself. Before they could move, the floor beneath him vanished, sending Tendou down into the floor. Their screens lit up, revealing a plain white room, with a mountain terrain drawn in black on the back wall. Tendou was dropped from the ceiling, landing on his butt. He stood up, looking around confused. He took a few steps forward and suddenly a 2-D samurai shot up from the floor, swiping his sword. Tendou barely ducked in time, the tips of his hair getting sliced off. The samurai didn’t slice again, and Tendou hesitated before staggering by him. He pushed open a door, the ceiling of the previous room slamming to the floor right behind him. Tendou stumbled through the room, coughing and leaning on the far wall for support as he made his way through the room. More figures popped up from the floor, this time archers shooting arrows. Most of them missed as Tendou fell to his knees, one of them hitting his shoulder. He winced with pain but got up again, making his way to the next room. Like before, the previous room was crushed behind him.

“I-It’s like a fucked up manga.” Daishou realized, eyes wide. Tendou kept going from room to room, barely making it to the door each time. He began getting hit by more and more attacks, his coughs growing more violent. Finally, he reached a room that had a large sign in another language on top of the door. Tendou reached for the door, pulling it open. But there was no other room. There was only a wall, with “THE END” written on the wall. Tendou stared at it before bursting into laughter, the laughter turning into coughs. He collapsed to the ground, curling in on himself as he coughed. Kenma’s eyes widened as blood spattered on the floor next to him. Tendou’s coughs died down and his body stilled, limp on the ground before the ceiling slammed shut, the screen going dark.

“ _I cannot BELIEVE this!”_ Everyone jumped as Monokuma angrily slammed his hand on his stand in front of him.

“ _I go through ALL that trouble to make an execution. And he dies early! That is just plain rude!”_ Monokuma sulked. He then seemed to realize the teens were still there.

“ _Oy! Don’t you have somewhere else to be?! The Trial’s over! Get out of here!”_ Monokuma snapped. Kuroo took Kenma’s hand, pulling him towards the elevator, everyone else right behind them. Monokuma was acting weird, but Kenma definitely didn’t want to be near him if he was angry.

“That was…strange.” Daishou said what they were all thinking as the elevator went up.

“Monokuma is usually happy after an execution. But he was upset this time. And Tendou was acting strange.” Sugawara wrapped his arms around himself.

 _There is definitely more to this trial than we think_. Kenma thought, but he didn’t say anything. The group was silent the rest of the elevator ride. They separated, going into their own dorms. Kenma grabbed Kuroo’s hand when Kuroo turned to go into his dorm.

“Stay with me.” Kenma said, not asking. Kuroo grinned as he followed Kenma into his room.

“As you wish.”


	24. Chapter 5- School Life P1

“ _I’m telling you, I don’t. Remember.” Tendou was insisting, sitting on a couch with his head in Ushijima’s lap. Ushijima was stroking his hair gently._

_“How do you NOT remember killing someone?” Terushima growled, arms folded. Tendou winced, rubbing his forehead. Ushijima looked concerned._

_“All I remember is feeling like shit, then I wake up in a tiny dark box, then I don’t even know! And now I’m here.” Tendou sounded exhausted, like he’d had to answer the same questions over and over._

_“Dude, you got executed. Which means you had to have killed Misaki.” Bokuto pointed out._

_“I don’t know okay!? I barely even remember my own fucking execution! Everything is a blur and whenever I try to think about it, my headache gets even worse.” Tendou whined, wrapping his arms around Ushijima. Ushijima held him close and shot the rest of the group a glare._

_“That is enough. It does not matter, since in the end we lost.” Ushijima said firmly._

_“I’m still calling bullshit.” Terushima grumbled, glaring at the redhead._

_“Call whatever you want. It don’t matter anymore.” Tendou yawned._

Kenma woke up, blinking a few times. He still couldn’t tell if his dreams were real or not, but they were definitely hitting on things on his mind. The last trial was still suspicious. Tendou had been acting strange and disoriented, like he was on…

“Drugs.” Kenma’s eyes went wide. He moved to get out of bed, only for Kuroo to groan and pull him back.  
“Whazzwrong Kitten?” He mumbled, obviously still half-asleep.

“I need to go look into something.” Kenma freed himself from Kuroo’s grip, slipping out from under the covers. Kuroo reached for his phone, missing a few times. He winced at the bright screen as he turned it on.

“It’s literally 3 AM, Kitten. Go back to sleep. Whatever it is will be there later.” Kuroo reached his arms out towards Kenma, like a little kid.

“I don’t know that for sure.” Kenma pulled on his jacket and his sneakers. Kuroo sighed, sitting up.

“Fiiiine. Let’s go investigate a thing.” He yawned, grabbing a shirt off the floor and throwing it on, as well as a pair of socks.

“You don’t have to come with me.” Kenma pointed out. Kuroo rolled his eyes, standing up.

“It’s 3 AM and you want to go wander around in the dark when people have been killing each other. Yes, I do have to come with you.” Kuroo stood up, stretching. He had a valid point. The two left their room, shutting their door silently. Kenma took Kuroo’s hand, leading the way through the dark halls towards the infirmary.

“Why are we back in the infirmary?” Kuroo asked, wincing as Kenma flicked on the light.

“I think Tendou was drugged. That’s why he was acting so weird at the trial.” Kenma explained, walking over to the medicine cabinet. He opened the cupboard, frowning at the medicines listed.

“What, like he was high or something?” Kuroo watched Kenma search.

“Yeah. That’s why he couldn’t properly remember what had happened, or where he had gone.” Kenma moved some bottles and found a little package of tablets. Four of them were missing.

“Kuroo, what were these?” Kenma asked, handing him the tablets. Kuroo squinted his eyes, turning it around to see if there were any names on the package.

“’Ergot fungus extract’.” He read. Kenma blinked, confused.

“That’s LSD, kitten.” Kuroo explained. Kenma’s eyes widened.

“And four tablets are missing. That would’ve definitely messed Tendou up. LSD can cause…hallucinations, increased heart rate…um…” Kenma frowned, trying to remember what he had learned in health class.

“Good trips can cause hallucinations and make you disconnect from reality. But bad trips…hoo boy, I heard they can be awful. Anxiety, panic attacks, mood swings…a want to harm others…” Kuroo listed, counting them off on his fingers. He trailed off on the last symptom, eyes widening.

“Oh. _OH_. Holy shit Kitten, you’re totally right. If someone set Tendou off on a bad trip, he could’ve killed Misaki and not even realize it.” Kuroo ran a hand through his hair. Kenma nodded.

“Which means someone used Tendou to kill her. Which means Tendou is technically the real weapon in the murder.” Kenma continued. Kuroo bit his lip.

“Doesn’t that mean… we voted wrong?” He pointed out. Kenma blinked, not understanding.

“I mean, if Tendou wasn’t the killer, but we voted for him, then we technically voted wrong and we lost right? But Monokuma killed Tendou anyways.” Kuroo explained.

“What if…the real killer… was Monokuma?” Kenma said slowly. Kuroo frowned.

“Huh? The BEAR gave Tendou LSD?” He raised an eyebrow. Kenma shook his head.

“No. The person behind the bear. The Mastermind. If they were behind it, they wouldn’t want to be executed so they would let Tendou take the fall.” Kenma suggested. Kuroo’s eyes widened in realization.

“That would make a lot of sense.” He admitted.

“Give me your phone.” Kenma reached for Kuroo’s pockets. Kuroo sidestepped him.

“Whoa hold on Kitten. Let’s think about this for a second.” Kenma scowled, folding his arms, but pausing to listen.

“Let’s say all this is right. If we just go to Monokuma, he could just admit it, then say we voted wrong and execute all of us. ALL of us. That’s definitely not fair to the others, considering they’re still asleep and unaware of this cheating bullshit.” Kuroo pointed out. Kenma bit his lip. He hadn’t even thought of that.

“We should discuss this with all of them before making a final decision. But not at 3 in the morning. Wait until breakfast, something else might come to that genius little head of yours.” Kuroo leaned down, kissing Kenma’s forehead. Kenma let out a huff of air, but took Kuroo’s hand.

“Fine. Let’s go back to bed. We’ll discuss it later.” He was reluctant to wait, but also knew it was the best option for all of them. Kuroo flicked the light off of the infirmary, leading Kenma back towards the dorm. A sudden thought hit Kenma, causing him to skid to a stop outside their dorm.

“Kenma? What’s wrong?” Kuroo asked, pausing in the doorway.

“I don’t think… the mastermind meant to get Tendou executed.” He said slowly. Kuroo blinked, frowning.

“What do you mean?” Kenma looked up at Kuroo with wide eyes.

“I think the mastermind wanted it to be me.”


	25. Chapter 5- School Life P2

“So let me get this straight.” Daishou yawned, reaching for his coffee mug. The group had just finished breakfast.

“You think the Mastermind drugged Tendou and got him to kill Misaki, then framed you to get you executed for some reason, and that we need to accuse the crazy evil bear of breaking his own rules since technically Tendou was an unwilling accomplice instead of the real killer, but if we do that there’s a chance we have to admit we voted wrong and get killed because of it?” Daishou explained. Kenma bit his lip.

“Basically.” He had to admit, it sounded crazy.

“You know what? Fuck it. Let’s go. I love this plan and I’m excited to be a part of it.” Daishou chugged the rest of his coffee (much to their horror) and slammed his mug down.

“Wait, shouldn’t we think this through? I mean, we could just be executed immediately.” Michimiya’s eyes flickered between the teens.

“But Monokuma broke one of his own rules. So he has to give us a fair trial.” Kenma argued back.

“I think we should do it.” Sawamura suddenly spoke up. Both Sugawara and Michimiya gave him shocked looks.

“Daichi, do you know what you’re agreeing to?” Sugawara asked, frowning.

“I believe I’m agreeing to figure out who killed Tendou. After all, if the mastermind used Tendou then executed him, that means we just have another case to solve. But this time, the mastermind is the killer.” Sawamura explained.

“I guess…It’s really just us continuing to play his messed up game.” Sugawara sighed. Michimiya just buried her face in her palms.  
“Fine. Fine. We’ll challenge the bear. Where do we start, Kenma?” She glanced back up at him. Kenma blinked, all the attention on him.  
“It’s your idea, Kitten. Tell us what to do.” Kuroo smiled encouragingly. Kenma nodded and reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone.

“First, we need to call Monokuma.” For the first time, he opened his contacts and tapped the Monokuma contact. Almost immediately the bear answered.  
“ _I feel so honored! One of my players actually called me!”_ Monokuma sounded happy. Kenma rolled his eyes.

“Can you-“

“ _Show up to the cafeteria and listen out to your stupid demands that you were talking about in front of security cameras? Sure.”_ Kenma blinked as the call dropped. He had completely forgotten that the bear can see and hear everything in the school. How else could the bear know the details about the murders for the Files? Almost immediately, Monokuma appeared, landing on the table.

“ _So my wonderful players, you have a challenge for me?”_ Monokuma sat down, crossing his legs.

“We think the last trial was a mistrial. You purposefully set it up so we’d vote for Kenma, then when Tendou came in you let us vote for him and executed him, even though he’s innocent. Sort of.” Kuroo explained. Monokuma laughed.

“ _Aw that’s cute. I haven’t had this kind of accusation in forever. So you want to do another investigation for a new trial?”_ Monokuma asked. Kenma looked around at the rest of the group before nodding.

“ _That sounds fun. But why don’t we up the stakes a bit? After all, this is a very one-sided challenge. I get nothing out of it!”_ Monokuma pointed out. Daishou scowled.

“What the hell do you want?” He asked, suspicious.

“ _Your goal out of this is to figure out who’s behind this lovely face, right? Why don’t you figure out everything else too?”_ Monokuma suggested, his red eye glinting.

“Everything else?” Michimiya blinked, confused.

“ _Eeeeeverything else! How did all of you get here? Why can’t you leave? All that fun juicy bits.”_ Monokuma explained.

“That’s impossible. You’ve locked most of the doors in here, we can’t properly investigate.” Kuroo pointed out.

“ _Fair enough. You guys solve the mysteries, I’ll unlock aaaaalll the doors! Except the front one.”_ Monokuma laughed before vanishing.

“That didn’t go as planned.” Kuroo sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“You think? Now we have to figure out way more than just who the mastermind is!” Daishou scowled.

“It’s fine. We can do it.” Kenma said firmly, standing up.

“We have a lot to explore now. Someone needs to keep going through the laptop and computer, just in case. We also need to check out the biology lab to see if there’s a morgue of some sort. Tendou mentioned somewhere dark and cold and by Wakatoshi.” He began. The group nodded, all listening intently.

“I’ll investigate the infirmary and see if we missed something last time.” Daishou offered.

“I can handle the laptop. I’m fast at reading.” Sugawara grinned.

“We’ll look for a morgue.” Sawamura glanced at Michimiya, who nodded in agreement.

“Which leaves us looking for clues in all the new rooms.” Kuroo finished, wrapping an arm around Kenma.

“We probably don’t have a lot of time, so let’s get going.” The group nodded and spilt up.

“Where do you want to check first, Kitten?” Kuroo asked, following Kenma out of the cafeteria.

“Let’s start from the top and make our way down. We’re going to find where Monokuma hangs out.”


	26. Chapter 5- Investigation P1

“Hoooly shit there’s a third floor?!” Kuroo’s mouth was wide as the two stood at the bottom of the stairs.

“How did you not know there was a third floor?” Kenma asked, frowning.

“Kitten, when you all collapsed in the cafeteria, nobody thought to explore any open areas. I mean, Daishou might’ve but I sure as hell didn’t.” Kuroo folded his arms.

“You were worried.” Kenma realized. Kuroo raised an eyebrow.  
“Of course I was worried, Kenma. Now let’s get going.” He took Kenma’s hand as the two walked up the stairs. The upper floor had red-tinted lights, making it excessively creepy. At the end of the hall were two giant doors with Monokuma’s face on them.

“Super creepy door at the end of a super creepy hallway. Great. Fantastic.” Kuroo groaned, his grip tightening on Kenma’s hand.

“It’s a door. Probably important.” Kenma glanced at the other doors along the way. A male and female bathroom (like on every floor) and one door was made of reflective glass. Kenma pushed it open, immediately squinting as bright lights flickered on, a vast contrast from the dim, red hallway.

“Ow. My eyes. I think I’m blind kitten. You’ll have to lead me the rest of my life.” Kuroo groaned, throwing his free hand over his eyes.

“Actually wait no, terrible idea considering how often you get lost.” Kuroo suddenly backtracked, snickering. Kenma huffed, trying to pull his hand free.

“No no no I’m sorry.” Kuroo laughed, tightening his grip. Kenma rolled his eyes and looked around the room. It looked like a laboratory of some kind, like the kind in sci-fi movies. There was an operating table and some fancy health equipment near it.

“I guess if someone needed surgery, we’d be prepared. Except for, ya know, nobody knowing how to do it and the fact Monokuma would probably let someone bleed out to make a trial happen.” Kuroo glanced around, frowning. Kenma nodded in agreement, pulling open some drawers.

“There’s scalpels in here.” He noted, all of them labeled and numbered by size.

“I think there’s one missing.” Kuroo pointed out. Kenma closely examined the drawer, noticing that there was a blank spot in between two of the bigger scalpels.

“Kuroo…I thought you said nobody else had been up to the third floor.” He said slowly. Kuroo blinked.   
“Nobody did. We all stayed down to take care of you guys.” His eyes widened.

“Wait, you don’t think…” He trailed off, glancing at Kenma.

“That someone actually went up to the third floor beforehand and used one of these scalpels on Misaki-san?” Kenma finished for him, pulling out his phone and taking a picture.

“You definitely think that. Okay. Cool.” Kuroo huffed, running his free hand through his hair.

“We didn’t even think to look up here last time.” Kenma pointed out, closing the drawer. The led Kuroo out of the room, looking down the hall for the next room other than the Monokuma one. He was really not looking forward to going in that one.

“Here’s one.” Kuroo pushed open the next door. Their eyes went wide as they stepped into the room. There were monitors all over the walls, and a dashboard in the center, a fancy-looking swivel chair in the middle.

“Not gonna lie, thought this would be what Monokuma’s room looked like.” Kuroo looked around, examining the monitor. He pulled his hand out of Kenma’s as the smaller boy sat down in the chair in the middle, going to look closer at the monitors.

“Oh I think these are connected to the surveillance cameras. Look, there’s Daishou!” Kuroo pointed. Kenma followed his gaze and saw the teen in the infirmary on the screen, looking through the cupboards. Kenma glanced down at the dashboard in front of him and saw a button labeled “infirmary”. He clicked it and much to Kuroo’s amusement, Monokuma suddenly popped up in the infirmary, causing Daishou to shriek and jump back.

“Oh my god that’s actually amazing. Is there a way to talk to him?” Kuroo hurried over to the dash, examining the buttons. He held one down, a red light flickering on.

“Oy, Daishou.” He spoke into the mic, and from the looks of it the sound came out from Monokuma. Daishou looked very confused.

“Relax, it’s me. Kuroo. We found the control booth. Nice reflexes by the way.” Kuroo snickered. Daishou scowled.

“ _Wow I didn’t think you could sound any more annoying, yet here you are.”_ Daishou shot back. Kuroo scowled and Kenma pushed him away from the mic.

“How’s investigating going?” He asked. Daishou let out a sigh.

“ _Well, I found those LSD tablets you were talking about. There’s some medicine missing to, but I think that’s what we gave you guys so that makes sense. Unfortunately, Monokuma has already moved the body and cleaned the room, so I can’t exactly recreate everything.”_ Daishou explained.

“Okay. Keep looking. Don’t forget to take pictures.” Kenma pressed the button and let Monokuma vanish from the room.

“Shall we keep going?” Kuroo asked. Kenma nodded, standing up.

“At least we know now the mastermind had a voice convertor. Otherwise I would’ve assumed it was Michimiya, since Monokuma’s voice is so high pitched.” Kenma took Kuroo’s hand again, pulling him out the door. All that was left was the Monokuma doors. The two stood in front of them awkwardly.

“Uhh…do you want to open it or do you want me to?” Kuroo asked. Kenma looked up at him, an unamused look on his face.

“Right, right.” Kuroo sighed and reached for the button by the doors. He clicked it and suddenly sirens went off.

“ _INTRUDER ALERT! COMMENCING SECURITY PROTOCOLS IN 5…4…3…”_ As the countdown started, guns popped out from the wall, aiming at them.

“Oh shit.” Kuroo grabbed Kenma’s arm and took off running. Kenma definitely didn’t protest, letting Kuroo pull him into the surveillance room as the countdown finished. Kuroo held Kenma close. They stood in the room, silent, but no gunshots went off. Kuroo took a deep breath and poked his head out.

“Oh that mother fucker.” He growled before walking calmly out of the room. Kenma peeked out and saw there were two flags with _BANG!_ on them poking out of the guns and the door wide open.

“I hate that freaking bear.” Kenma grumbled, following Kuroo out and into the room. The room was dark and the doors slid shut behind them.

“Oy!” Kuroo immediately began pounding on the door, but they refuse to open.

“What the fuck?” Kuroo ran a hand through his hair as Kenma reached around the wall, looking for a light. Suddenly, the room burst into light, monitors lit up on the walls.

“ _Well, isn’t this a nice surprise?”_


	27. Chapter 5- Investigation P2

Kenma definitely didn’t scream in surprise. Definitely not. Kuroo definitely shrieked though, and Kenma’s ears were ringing to prove it.

“ _I never expected to see a sports prodigy such as yourself walk into an office of a company that makes games.”_ Kenma looked around and saw a monitor that had Ushijima sitting on it, interview style. He realized there were interviews on all the screens, all of their faces appearing.

“ _I am merely here on Satori’s request. He had wished to sign up and did not want to go alone, as it would be less fun.”_ Ushijima responded.

“ _Well, you have read through the contract and understand the dangers?”_ The voice asked. Ushijima nodded.

“ _I am well aware of the danger and the possibility of ending up hurt. However I have also been reassured this danger is very small.”_ Kenma wanted to laugh. For danger being small, Ushijima certainly ended up getting hurt.

“Wonder what these buttons do?” Kuroo asked, noting another dashboard. He flicked one and Ushijima’s voice died out, a new one chiming in.

“ _I mean, this game is supposed to be fun and it’ll be a good way to spend time with Sawamura-san. A-And Sugawara-san too!”_ Michimiya quickly added, looking down off camera with a light blush on her cheeks.

“ _And you understand what you’re getting into?”_ The voice asked once again. Michimiya nodded, smiling weakly.

“ _Everything will be okay in the end, right? So I think I can handle anything that happens since I know that.”_ She said firmly. Kuroo flicked another switch, this time his own voice speaking.

“ _Yeah, I haven’t personally played, but I’ve seen my best friend play all of the games and he’s told me practically everything. Even all the little tidbits. He’s pretty excited for this, even if he might not seem like it. OH but he doesn’t know I’m playing too, so if you could keep that a secret, that’d be great. I want it to be a surprise.”_ Kuroo quickly flicked that switch off as Kenma stared at him.

“Y-You…” Kenma didn’t even know how to finish his sentence. Kuroo wasn’t supposed to be here. He was supposed to just drop him off and that was that. But, apparently Kuroo WAS supposed to be there the entire time.

“I was going to stay anyways, that’s true. But I don’t remember taking this interview.” Kuroo frowned.

“You’re actually one of the beta-testers too.” Kenma said slowly. Kuroo nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I forgot I never told you. I just… I know how you get around new people and so I sent in an application too and got accepted.” Kuroo explained. Kenma walked over and smacked him in the arm.

“Ow! What was that for?” Kuroo whined, rubbing his arm. Kenma rolled his eyes.  
“You know it didn’t hurt, stop being a baby.” He turned back to the monitors, looking around. He flicked a switch and was startled to hear his own voice.

“ _I’m good at mystery games… I guess. I think I could win, no matter what I choose to do. I don’t think I’d kill someone. But I’d probably do okay with investigating.”_ Kenma wasn’t looking at the camera, instead looking down at his knees.

“ _And are you familiar with the contract?”_ The strange voice asked again. Kenma finally looked up, nodding.

“ _I know that I’m going into the killing game.”_ Kenma said firmly. The real Kenma didn’t even realize Kuroo had turned off the audio and was sitting him down in the seat.

“I-I didn’t…I-I wouldn’t… Why would I agree to that!?” Kenma mumbled, running his hands through his hair and curling in on himself.

“Kitten. Kenma. Calm down. There’s some explanation for this.” Kuroo grabbed his hands in his own, holding them tight.

“B-But…” Kenma started talking again but Kuroo tightened his grip on his hands.

“There’s an explanation.” Kuroo said firmly. He stood up again when he made sure Kenma was calmed down and looked around.

“Why is Tendou’s all weird?” He suddenly asked. Kenma blinked and looked up at the monitor Kuroo was looking at. Tendou was pale and had bags under his eyes. He appeared to be shaking. Kuroo immediately reached for the switch, flipping it.

“ _-been killed. Do you understand?”_ The voice from before was stern, sounding angry. Tendou visibly flinched.

“ _I’m telling you! I didn’t mess with any of the cords or wires or anything like that! I woke up and I wasn’t where I was when I went to sleep. How many times do I have to tell you?”_ Tendou insisted. Kenma was reminded of the dream he had the night Tendou had been executed, how Tendou had kept telling Terushima he had no idea why he killed Misaki. Kuroo turned the audio off again as Tendou buried his face in his knees.

“That’s…a different kind of interview.” Kuroo said after a moment of silence.

“Kuroo, have you had any weird dreams lately?” Kenma asked. Kuroo blinked, turning to him.

“Kind of a random question. Umm…no can’t say I have. Why, have you been having nightmares?” Kenma bit his lip.

“Not really… just weird dreams. We’re all in a different cafeteria, like the kind you’d find at a college? And everyone’s alive. But they all talked about stuff that’s happened. Like Akaashi punched Terushima for killing Bokuto, and Tendou freaking out when Terushima interrogated him about Misaki.” Kenma explained slowly.

“Is that why you suddenly woke up at 3 AM to go investigate the infirmary again?” Kuroo asked. Kenma nodded.

“There’s another time. Right before we found Misaki’s body, we were in a room and someone burst in and said ‘break time is over’.” Kenma remembered. Kuroo’s eyes widened.

“That’s trippy. Have you been eating sugar before bed again?” Kuroo asked, folding his arms with a raised eyebrow. Kenma scowled.

“You have been with me before I go to bed, you tell me.” He stood up, folding his arms as well and staring right back at Kuroo.

“Kitten, I admit your dreams are weird and oddly timed, but they could be your mind’s way of dealing with trauma. I mean, you’ve seen people die.” Kuroo pointed out. Kenma’s fists tightened in his sleeves.

“You don’t believe me.” He realized. Kuroo bit his lip, proving Kenma right.

“Kenma I-“

“ _DING DONG! Alright kids, your investigation time is over. It’s time for the FINAL TRIAL! So hurry up and get to the elevators, it’s time for the Final Boss!”_


	28. Chapter 5- Final Trial P1

The trial room was different this time. There weren’t any stands to take place of the dead people. It was just the six of them, standing all together in front of Monokuma’s judge stand. This time, the bear had two buttons in front of him.

“ _Alrighty kids, you ready for the Final Trial?”_ Monokuma seemed excited.

“What’s with the second button?” Sawamura asked with a frown.

“ _Cutting right to the chase I see! Well, the Trial ends in two ways. If you guys can correctly guess the mastermind’s identity and figure out the mystery of the school, then you win! I’ll get punished and you can all go free! But if you can’t….upupupupu~!”_ Monokuma trailed off with a giggle.

“So we finally get to see the asshole bear die. Fuckin finally. Let’s get this started then.” Daishou smirked, obviously feeling confident.

“ _Let the Grand Trial… BEGIN!”_ Monokuma banged his little hammer on the stand, next to the buttons.

“Should we start with Misaki’s case again?” Michimiya asked. Kenma nodded, pulling up the Monokuma file once again.

“Misaki had a lot of lacerations on her arm and a scalpel in her chest. She died at 3:40 PM.” Kenma reminded everyone.

“But we found a bloody knife under Kenma’s pillow, so it’s possible the scalpel isn’t the real weapon.” Daishou added.

“Where did the scalpel even come from? It’s not really something you’d find in the school infirmary.” Sugawara frowned.

“Kenma and I found some scalpels on the third floor in a lab of some sort. One of the bigger ones was missing. So the killer must’ve gone upstairs at some point to get it. But none of us explored after Kenma, Tendou and Misaki got sick.” Kuroo explained.

“At least, nobody said if they did.” Daishou pointed out.

“Okay, so the scalpel came up from the upper floor. But where did the knife come from?” Kenma flicked through his pictures, trying to think.

“Oh! I know! It came from the kitchen!” Michimiya spoke up, seeming proud of herself as she flicked a picture onto the screen. The knife rack in the kitchen was missing one.

“I was wondering where the knife came from and realized the only place it could’ve come from was the kitchen, since I hadn’t seen any other knives. And there was definitely one missing. It wasn’t in the sink or the dishwasher or anywhere.” She explained.

“So not only did the killer go upstairs without anyone finding out, they also managed to get into the kitchen when all of us were in the cafeteria?” Sawamura’s eyes widened.

“Which means it couldn’t have been Kenma, since he never left the infirmary.” Kuroo grinned. Kenma nodded before flipping open a picture of the LSD tablets.

“That’s not all. At some point they gave these to Tendou, along with the scalpel, and lured him to Misaki so he’d kill her for them. Then hid him somewhere, hoping he’d overdose and die so he couldn’t make it to the trial.” Kenma snuck a glance at Monokuma, who wasn’t showing any hints that he was on the right track or not.

“Question, how did you even know those were LSD Tablets? I only knew because you said some were missing and they were the only partially-empty tablets. The label on the package was ’Ergot fungus extract’.” Daishou frowned.

“Kuroo knew.” Kenma glanced up at Kuroo, who nodded with a smirk.

“Some of us are actually smart, Daishou.” He taunted. Daishou scowled but Sugawara intervened before they could start arguing.

“LSD can make you see hallucinations right? That would make a lot of sense, considering how he was behaving at the trial.” Sugawara gave Kuroo and Daishou a stern look, daring them to start fighting.

“Plus remember what Monokuma said? He was angry that Tendou died earlier than planned in his execution.” Kenma added.

“ _Ack! Using my own words against me in a trial!”_ Monokuma seemed somewhat shocked.

“So Tendou probably died from the drugs right at the end. That’s why he was coughing.” Michimiya realized. Kenma nodded and glanced at Sawamura.

“Did you find anywhere similar to a morgue in your search?” He asked. Sawamura nodded.

“It was hidden in the back of the biology lab. It was like in a TV show, with a bunch of lockers. One of the doors was broken though.” He pulled up a photo of the scene. The room looked cold and sterile, with a wall of black locker doors on the far wall. One of the doors was hanging slightly ajar.

“Tendou must’ve been brought there since the mastermind knew he’d die anyways. Save him a trip. But Tendou managed to break out and get to the trial room.” Daishou said.

“So someone gave Tendou drugs and a scalpel and hid while he killed Misaki, then moved Tendou to the morgue and hid him in one of the lockers and went back to frame Kenma by leaving the knife covered in blood under his pillow for us to find.” Michimiya counted off all of the steps on her fingers.

“Why would they want to frame Kenma? Or kill Misaki?” Sugawara asked, frowning.

“Kenma HAS been basically carrying us through all of the investigations. Remember what Mika said? If they want to get away with something, they have to deal with Kenma.” Kenma blushed at Kuroo’s praise, looking down.

“I dunno why they’d frame me. They could’ve easily had Tendou kill me too.” He mumbled.

“But then they wouldn’t have someone to frame. They could have been voted themselves if they didn’t have an easy suspect available. Terushima tried to do the same thing with Daishou.” Sawamura pointed out.

“This had to have taken so long to set up. And none of us saw anything!” Kuroo ran a hand through his hair.

“I was too worried to even check the time most of the time for more than just to time how long to cook the rice.” Michimiya admitted.

“Same. I had more things on my mind than the time.” Kuroo briefly glanced at Kenma before turning back to his screen.

“I always forget to check the time on my phone.” Sawamura chuckled sheepishly.

“I was asleep most of the time, so my sense of time was off.” Kenma pointed out.

“So none of us even know what time Tendou went missing? This is going to be impossible.” Daishou groaned.

“Wait. None of you checked the time?” Kenma suddenly asked, looking at the group that hadn’t gotten sick. The teens all shook their head.

“That means…” Kenma trailed off, looking down again, biting his lip. _No way. It can’t be them._

“What? You figure out who it was?” Michimiya asked, eyes wide. Kenma took a deep breath before looking up, staring the mastermind in the eyes.

“It has to be you.”

 


	29. Chapter 5- Grand Trial P2

“What?” Kuroo blinked, confused as Kenma stared at him.

“You’re the mastermind Kuroo.” He repeated. The others glanced in between the two.

“Why would you accuse Kuroo, Kenma? Aren’t you two….?” Michimiya trailed off. Kenma took a deep breath, trying to ignore the pounding in his chest.

“Back when we first were investigating Misaki’s body, you told Daishou you had come at 3:30 exactly to bring me water. But you just said you never looked at the time.” Kenma began.

“That’s true.” Daishou frowned, giving Kuroo a look.

“I knew it seemed suspicious so I figured I could lie and give us an alibi. Until we could prove it wasn’t us.” Kuroo explained.

“What?!” Daishou glared at Kuroo, who glared right back.

“I knew Kenma didn’t do it, and I knew I didn’t do it, so I lied and made up a time.” He repeated.

“Which means nobody knows what time you actually came to give me water, or the time you actually came to give me medicine afterwards. I fell asleep and had no idea what time I woke up. And the others were all in the cafeteria together.” Kenma continued.

“I can’t believe you actually think I did this. Michimiya saw me in the kitchen, remember? I got honey.” Kuroo folded his arms, looking hurt. Kenma did his best to ignore it as he glanced at Michimiya, who nodded.

“That’s true. He did come in for honey. I got it out of the cupboard for him.” She remembered.

“So I wouldn’t have had time to hide Tendou and all the stuff we figured out.” Kuroo pointed out. Daishou shook his head, a grim look on his face.

“Maybe, maybe not. But you just explained why a knife from the kitchen ended up in the infirmary.” He said. Kuroo blinked.

“What?” His eyes flickered around the group.

“If Michimiya had to get honey from the cupboard, she would’ve looked away long enough for you to take the knife and hide it when she turned back around. It’s not like she needed the knife for what she was cooking, since the sick people could only handle soft food.” Daishou explained.

“That’s…true.” Michimiya said softly. Kuroo looked at her, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“There’s something else that bugs me…” Sugawara suddenly said, earning the group’s attention.

“The tablets had a weird name, right? They weren’t directly labeled LSD? But Kuroo knew exactly what they were.” Sugawara bit his lip.

“Anyone who knows anything about chemistry could figure that out!” Kuroo protested.

“You also remembered every symptom, or at least the ones that were important to what bugged me.” Kenma recalled. Kuroo was looking incredibly betrayed, and it hurt Kenma so bad. He didn’t want to think that his friend…the person he cared for the most… the one who had stayed with him through everything was behind all of it.

“Kitten, what do you want me to say? I’m in college prep classes, I have to know this kind of stuff.” Kuroo ran a hand through his hair, looking irritated.

“I’m in college prep chemistry, and I don’t know that.” Michimiya frowned.

“I can vouch for that. Michimiya has an A in chemistry.” Sawamura added.

“How do you know we don’t have different curriculums? Nekoma and Karasuno are two totally different schools.” Kuroo pointed out.

“College prep classes have the same curriculum no matter what school you go to, so everyone had the same stuff taught to them so the tests would be fair.” Daishou shot back.

“Fine! How about this? Why the hell would I frame Kenma? I lo-…He’s literally my best friend, why would I want him executed?” Kuroo asked, scowling with red cheeks. Kenma blinked.

“That’s…a good point. They’re inseparable.” Michimiya bit her lip, glancing between the two of them.

“Not to mention they’ve shared a room the entire time. And investigated together. Why would Kuroo do that if he was the mastermind? Wouldn’t he want us to lose?” Sugawara realized. Kenma was quiet as doubt filled the air.

_“_ _After all, you’re the best detective we have.”_

_“Maybe you should be a little more careful where you stick your nose, ‘kitten’. After all, if anyone wants to get away with murder around here, they’ll have to deal with you first.”_

_“Half the stuff you figure out would’ve been impossible for the rest of us.”_

_“That’s why you’re Nekoma’s brain, kitten.”_

Kenma’s eyes widened with realization.

“It’s because he HAD to get rid of me.” He said softly. Everyone went silent immediately.

“What do you mean by that?” Michimiya asked, frowning.

“I’m the only one who would be able to figure out Kuroo’s the mastermind. I know him better than anyone else.” Kenma explained, ignoring the pain growing in his chest. Kuroo was staying silent.  
“I’ve been leading most of the investigations and found stuff everyone else would’ve easily missed. I knows the most about these style of games because I’ve played them before. I have known Kuroo my entire life. Out of everyone here, I’m the one who would be his biggest threat. Which is why he stayed with me all the time.” Kenma kept going.

_Was all of that… the cuddling, the worrying over me, the kisses on my head… was all that just faked to make me ignore what was right in my face?_

“Kuroo was the only one who came into the infirmary and could’ve planted the knife under my pillow. He must’ve nudged my cheek, which is why I got blood on it.” Kenma finished, looking determined in Kuroo’s eyes.

“Kuroo, the mastermind has to be you!” He repeated firmly. This time, he could tell everyone was on his side. Kuroo was quiet, looking around at everyone before his shoulders started to shake. He gripped the stand in front of him before leaning back, laughing wildly. He clapped his hands together slowly as he walked around the court room, straight to the seat Monokuma was lounging in. He picked the bear up and tossed him away, sitting down casually in the judge’s chair with his legs dangling over an armrest.

“Bravo, Kitten. You’re on a roll with catching us killers.” Kuroo grinned.

“But the game’s just getting started.”


	30. Chapter 5- Grand Trial P2

Kuroo sat in the judge seat like it was meant for him.

 _I guess it kinda IS meant for him_. Kenma thought bitterly. Kuroo seemed to be having a grand time watching them.

“The mystery of the school?” Michimiya asked, looking confused.

“Exactly! How did you get here, why can’t you leave, all those fun stuff. I mean, I’m strong but I can’t carry all 14 of you.” Kuroo pointed out.

“We got knocked out, how are we supposed to know how we got here?” Sugawara asked, glancing at each other.

“Figure it out. This game won’t end until you do. Unless you decide to give up. I did put a ton of effort into these executions that are just sitting here, waiting.” Kuroo’s trademark grin was a lot less endearing than usual.

“We don’t give up.” Kenma scowled, looking down at his screen and flicking through his camera for some sort of clue.

“What happened when we first got here? I arrived with Kuroo, and we got an ID from the front desk. We were the last ones to arrive and didn’t know the door locked so we didn’t catch it in time. After introductions, we were gassed.” Kenma remembered.

“Um…Daichi, Suga and I all arrived together. The lady at the front desk printed out our IDs and she said to go into the room on the left. She was really specific about what room.” Michimiya glanced at Suga and Sawamura, who nodded in agreement.

“I was going to try to find a bathroom and she insisted I go straight to the room.” Sawamura recalled.

“Wait. The _left_ room? She told Mika and me to go to the room directly behind her.” Daishou frowned.

“We were told to go to the room on the right.” Kenma glanced at Kuroo, who nodded.

“Don’t worry, I won’t lie. You guys can ask me questions, within reason, to clarify stuff.” He explained.

“We all got told to go to different rooms, but we ended up in the same room. How does that happen?” Sugawara asked, confused.

“The same way we all ended up here probably. Some weird way we don’t understand.” Daishou sighed.

“Is there a chance the room could move? Like an elevator? That could be why the door locked immediately, to keep someone from opening the door if it’s moving.” Michimiya suggested.

“An entire room moving side to side and none of us noticing it? That sounds like a crazy video game.” Daishou scowled. Kenma blinked.

“Wait. What if…it IS like a crazy video game.” He realized. Everyone stared at him.

“Isn’t that why we’re here? To beta-test a video game?” Kenma pointed out.

“But, we never got the game. We didn’t even get to see it.” Sawamura frowned.

“But what if we did? Kuroo, is there a way to pull up the videos we found in Mono-… In your hidden room?” Kenma still didn’t look up at Kuroo.

“Of course, Kitten.” Kuroo tapped his screen, swiping his finger up. A file appeared on their tablets, with their names labeled by them. Kenma tapped on Tendou’s, the most recent file.

“ _I’m good at mystery games… I guess. I think I could win, no matter what I choose to do. I don’t think I’d kill someone. But I’d probably do okay with investigating.”_ _Kenma wasn’t looking at the camera, instead looking down at his knees._

“ _And are you familiar with the contract?_ ” _The strange voice asked again. Kenma finally looked up, nodding._

“ _I know that I’m going into the killing game.” Kenma said firmly._

 “What is this?” Sugawara asked, scrolling through the list of videos.

“These are interviews. Someone interviewed us asking if we know what we’re getting into, and we all agreed that we knew we were going into the killing game.” Kenma explained. The others looked shocked.

“What?! I would never agree to that!” Michimiya was pale.

“Exactly. NOBODY would willingly agree to that. Unless…” Kenma trailed off, tapping on Tendou’s interview.

“ _I’m telling you! I didn’t mess with any of the cords or wires or anything like that! I woke up and I wasn’t where I was when I went to sleep. How many times do I have to tell you?” Tendou insisted._

“Unless we knew ahead of time it was just a video game.” Daishou realized, eyes wide.

“B-But…this feels so real! It can’t be a game! W-We ate! And slept! A-And we saw everyone die!” Michimiya pointed out.

“Michimiya, have you had strange dreams?” Kenma suddenly asked. MIchimiya went quiet, her eyes widening. That was all the proof he needed.

“You have. Let me guess, everyone’s alive, they’re hanging out. Maybe there’s some fighting between certain people who were killed by or saw their loved ones killed by others?” Kenma prodded. By her expression, he was right.

“Y-You guys had those dreams too?” Sugawara asked softly.

“I thought I was just in shock… Like I was trying to cope with everything.” Daishou murmured.

“That’s a logical assumption. But imagine this. If we’re in a video game, we need to be able to eat properly or our bodies will get sick and die. So we’d have to take breaks. And if this is all a game and nobody died…” Kenma explained.

“Then when we took breaks, we’d find everyone else and be hanging out with them. But why can’t we properly remember that? Why is it only in dreams?” Sawamura asked.

“That’s probably how the game is programmed. If we knew everyone would still be alive, the trials wouldn’t be as interesting and we wouldn’t be as emotionally invested. Imagine if Bokuto had known Akaashi was still alive. Terushima wouldn’t have been able to kill him.” Kenma pointed out.

“I have a question, Kitten.” Kuroo suddenly piped up. Kenma glanced at him, frowning.

“You all are going on and on about dreams and games and all that stuff. However, don’t you remember what I told you? I never had those dreams. So if that’s all true, how come I didn’t get those?” He asked, smirking.

“How do we know you aren’t lying and you DID have those dreams?” Sugawara folded his arms, a suspicious look on his face.

“I said I wouldn’t lie like two minutes ago. Besides, Kenma knows when I’m lying.” Kuroo sat up properly, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his head on his hands.

“So tell me, Kitten. What’s your genius answer?” Kenma scowled.

“It’s obvious. You’re the mastermind. You probably programmed it so you could always remember it. It’s easier for you to be the bad guy if you know nobody is actually getting hurt.” He pointed out. Kuroo grinned, sitting back up.

“Bingo~! I do wonder how you think I can program my own brain though.” Kuroo seemed happy, even though it appeared he was losing the trial. It made Kenma suspicious.

“What if we aren’t us?” Daishou suddenly suggested.

“How could we…not be us?” Michimiya asked.

“Like… the us right now? The us in this…game? What if we were like, avatars? Like virtual reality avatars? Our avatars could be programmed differently, since Kuroo’s the mastermind, he can remember stuff when he’s not playing, but we can’t since we’re normal players.” Daishou explained. Kenma’s eyes widened in realization and he pulled up Tendou’s interview again.

 _“I woke up and I wasn’t where I was when I went to sleep.”_ Tendou repeated.

“What if Tendou wasn’t connected to the game when his avatar was drugged? In one of my dreams, right before I woke up and we found Misaki, I had a dream that we were in the break room, but people burst in and told us break was over, like something wrong had happened.” Kenma recalled.

“Like someone’s avatar killing someone when they weren’t in the game.” Sawamura realized. Kenma nodded.

“Exactly. That’s why Tendou couldn’t remember killing Misaki. Because he wasn’t logged in.” Kenma added.

“So hold on. We’re all in a video game right now? Like a virtual reality game? And the us right now, we’re just game avatars? A-And the real us are asleep somewhere?” Sugawara ran a hand through his hair.

“It’s complicated but not impossible. In fact, it’s the only option that makes sense. Think about it, if we’d actually been here as long as we’ve been, people would notice. If Ushijima, Bokuto and Oikawa had disappeared or died, it would’ve been noticed for sure.” Daishou pointed out.   
“And we can’t leave because there’s nowhere else to go. The game’s world is just this school.” Michimiya added.

“Is that enough for you, Kuroo? We figured out your big mystery.” Kenma turned to Kuroo, who was lounging in his chair. The teen grinned, a genuine one, and sat up again.

“You sure did. I knew you would, Kitten.” There was a sigh of relief throughout the group as Kuroo began tapping his screen.

“Which means there’s only one thing left to do.” Their screens lit up and Kenma blinked in confusion. It was a voting screen.

“It’s voting time.”


	31. Chapter 5- Grand Trial P3

“Vote? Vote for what? The game is over, Kuroo!” Daishou scowled. Kuroo shook his head, his finger moving in the same motion.

“Not quite. Don’t you remember what the bear said? The trial isn’t over until we vote.” Kenma stared at his voting screen. There were only two options. One had Kuroo’s face, the other had the rest of the group.

“W-What?! Why do we need to vote?! I-I don’t want to do this anymore!” Michimiya had tears running down her cheeks.

“The game won’t end until you do. So unless you guys want to just chill here in game forever, you might want to vote quickly.” Kuroo leaned forward, one eyebrow raised.

“No.” Kenma said. Everyone turned to him. Even Kuroo looked confused.

“No?” Kuroo repeated, frowning.

“You heard me. I’m not voting for you. And I’m not voting for us.” Kenma stepped away from his stand, arms folded.

“I’m not voting either. I’m done killing my friends like this.” Michimiya stepped back too. Kuroo stood up, eyes wide as he watched the group step back from their stands.

“Kuroo, we’re friends. No matter how often you piss me off in game, I’m with them. This has gone on long enough. We’ll…figure a different way.” Sawamura said firmly. Kuroo’s eyes flickered to Daishou, the last one standing at his stand. His rival just rolled his eyes and stepped back.

“I should be pissed off that you executed Mika. But…even I’m not fucked up enough to vote for this.” He huffed. Kenma walked over to Kuroo, tugging on his arm and pulling him off the Judge’s stand.

“Let’s just go Kuroo. We’ll figure out a way to end the game without this.” He looked up at him, pleading. Kuroo looked down at him and sighed, pulling him close.

“I can’t watch you die, Tetsu.” Kenma mumbled into his chest. Kuroo’s cheeks flushed and he kissed the top of his head.

“Fine. W-We’ll…figure something out.” He held him tight, glancing at the others from over his head. Kenma pulled away and took Kuroo’s hand.

“You have more power than us. We can use it to find a loophole.” Kenma suggested. Kuroo nodded, glancing back at the stands as they walked by.

“I wish all the trials could end like this. The executions are going to give me nightmares for the rest of my life.” Michimiya shivered slightly. Kenma nodded. He suddenly felt a tug from behind and realized Kuroo had stopped walking. The rest of the group continued towards the elevator.

“Hey Kenma…” Kuroo looked back towards the stands, a sad smile on his face.

“Kuroo…?” Kenma tugged on his hand, but Kuroo pulled his hand away.

“You know I love you, right kitten?” He said softly. Kenma felt his cheeks burning.

“I-I…” Kenma’s eyes widened as Kuroo started walking back to the stands.

“W-Wait! Kuroo what are you doing?!” Kenma heard the footsteps in the hall stop, the group probably noticing they weren’t with them.

“You remember what this trial was about originally, Kitten? What did you decide to challenge Monokuma for?” Kuroo asked, walking over to Michimiya’s stand and tapping the screen. Kenma blinked.  
“W-We… wanted to figure out who got Tendou to kill Misaki. Because it didn’t seem fair for Tendou… Kuroo stop!” Kenma ran to Kuroo, pulling on his arm as Kuroo tapped the voting screen on Sawamura’s screen.

“And you decided the mastermind used Tendou as a tool to kill Misaki. What does that make the mastermind, Kitten?” Kuroo asked, easily pulling free and tapping Sugawara’s screen. Kenma froze, his eyes wide.

“A-A…killer…” He realized what Kuroo meant and tried to grab his arm again.

“And what happens when killers get caught? Kenma, I can’t break my own rules.” Kuroo tapped Daishou’s screen, a sad smirk on his face.

“Y-You did once! With the last trial! Just do it again.” Kenma stood in front of his own stand, blocking it from Kuroo.

“I can’t do that and you know it. And besides, it doesn’t matter Kenma. Remember?” Kuroo stood in front of him, smiling down at him. Kenma heard the familiar victory sound of a passing vote and his eyes widened.

“Majority Rules.” He whispered, horrified. Kuroo grinned as a familiar collar locked around his neck.

“I’ll see you around, Kitten.” He took a step back, getting yanked by the chain on the collar. Kenma shook his head and grabbed his arm, pulling back.

“Kuroo! I won’t let you!” He tried his best to pull back, but he wasn’t strong enough. So he decided to take the easy way out and wrap his arms around Kuroo’s torso, flying out of the trial room, past the surprised group, and into the darkness. Suddenly, the collar released Kuroo and the two fell to the ground, rolling. Kenma sat up, rubbing his head. Kuroo stared at him, propped up on his elbows.

“Kenma. You shouldn’t be here. W-Why couldn’t you stay behind!?” Kuroo asked, a mixture of anger and sadness on his face.

“You’re so selfish. You said you couldn’t sit still and let me be executed, why do you think I’d be able to do the same?” Kenma felt something wet on his cheeks and realized he had started crying. Kuroo’s eyes widened and he reached out, wiping tears off his face.

“You can’t get involved anymore Kitten. I can’t protect you. I-If you die too, that could glitch out the game. Remember? Only the killer can get executed.” Kuroo stood up, taking a deep breath. Kenma stood up as well, grabbing his hand.

“Well, then I guess we’ll have to glitch the game.” He said firmly. Kuroo chuckled, shaking his head.

“Sometimes you are so stubborn, Kitten.” Kenma snorted.

“Am not.”

“Are too.”

“….am not.”

“Are too.”


	32. Chapter 5- End of Chapter

There was a loud crowd of Monokumas as the two walked out of the dark hall into a brightly lit colosseum. Kenma tightened his grip on Kuroo’s hand. Kuroo shot him a smile, but Kenma could tell he was afraid. Suddenly bars popped up right behind them, Kenma letting out a yelp and scooting closer to Kuroo as bars formed around them in a cage. Kuroo held him close, looking around in surprise.

“A little late, but I didn’t get to know how my own execution would go.” Kuroo admitted, voice shaky. There was a loud noise and holes appeared in the floor around them. Kuroo’s eyes widened as figures looking eerily similar to those who died rose up from the floor, most holding whips with barbs and some holding wooden chairs. Kenma felt Kuroo’s grip tighten as one of the figures shot out their whip, striking Kuroo on the back. The other figures soon joined in. The first time Kenma got hit, he winced. Kuroo got a strangely determined look on his face and suddenly pulled Kenma to the ground, covering his body with his own and taking the blunt of the blows.

“K-Kuroo!” Kenma tried to push him off, ignoring the painful lashes on his hands as they were hit, but Kuroo didn’t budge. Kenma could see that Kuroo was in a lot of pain, his lip bleeding from biting it so hard. Kenma could hardly see anything other than Kuroo, but he saw feet approaching in terrifyingly familiar sneakers. He peeked out and saw the figure resembling Bokuto standing above Kuroo with a dead look in his eyes, holding a chair. Kuroo looked up right as Bokuto slammed the chair on his back, breaking the chair. Kuroo let out a shout of pain and his arms gave out, collapsing on top of Kenma. Kenma struggled to get out from under him as the figures all sank into the floor again.

“Kuroo? Kuroo! Tetsurou?!” Kenma managed to get free and winced when he saw Kuroo’s bloody back. His shirt had done absolutely nothing to protect his skin, blood pooling out from the cuts on his back. Tetsurou groaned, trying to get to his knees but collapsing back to the ground, arms shaking. Kenma reached down and helped him stand, letting Kuroo lean on him. Kenma saw there was a gap in the cage that wasn’t there before. He began making his way towards it, having to go slow with Kuroo limping. They were almost there when Kenma heard the sound of the floor rising again behind him. He turned his head slowly, terrified of what else could possibly happen. His eyes widened as a large lion rose into the cage, growling at them. It bent down, prepared to pounce. Kenma squeezed his eyes shut, knowing there was no way for him to pull Kuroo and himself through the gap. Suddenly, Kenma felt a hard shove on his back and he stumbled through the gap, falling forward. He sat up, confused, but turned back with wide eyes. Kuroo was on his hands and knees, a weak smile on his face.

“TETSUROU!” Kenma got up and reached for him. The lion pounced with a loud roar. Kenma instinctively closed his eyes, feeling something wet splatter on his face. Almost immediately he fell to his knees, curling up and keeping his eyes shut.   
“T-Tetsu...rou?” He whimpered, but there was no response. He started shaking, tears freely falling down his face as he sobbed. He buried his face in his hands, wincing at the fact he might be smearing blood- _Kuroo’s blood-_ further on his face.

“-nma!” He wasn’t aware of someone calling his name until a hand landed on his shoulder. He whipped his head up, startled and backed away from the hand. He relaxed slightly when he saw it was just Sugawara, a worried look on his face.

“Kenma, it’s time to go.” Sugawara’s voice sounded strange, echoing slightly. Kenma looked around and noticed the world around him was black, aside from the small circle of light they two were in. Sugawara helped Kenma to his feet, holding his hand. Kenma looked up and saw a path of light circles leading to the rest of the group, who were waiting for them. For _him_.

“Don’t you want to see Kuroo?” Kenma’s eyes went wide at the name, glancing up at Sugawara.

“B-But he’s…” Sugawara shook his head.

“Remember? It’s just a game. Which means he’ll be waiting for you.” Sugawara’s voice was gentle. Kenma knew it was a game. His brain knew it was a game, that it wasn’t real. But his heart didn’t seem to want to listen, tears still rolling down his cheeks. But he let Sugawara pull him towards the group, who all took each other’s hands. Daishou took Kenma’s free hand but didn’t say anything. The five survivors walked into the bright light, hands tightly intertwined.

_Game Over. Victory is ours!_


	33. Epilogue

Kenma woke with a start, gasping as memories crashed together in his head. He could remember the game, but he also clearly remembered the in between parts as well. He winced at the headache slowly forming. He laid in his tube, waiting for the top to open. When it did, he sat up slowly, wincing at the bright light. He saw the other tubes open, Sugawara, Sawamura, Michimiya and Daishou also sitting up.

“Oh god it’s still bright. I thought we asked them to keep lights down.” Daishou groaned, covering his eyes.

“The clashing memories is kind of trippy.” Michimiya blinked a few times. Sawamura was the first to stand, turning to help Sugawara, then Sawamura out of the tubes. Kenma blinked as Daishou offered him his hand, but took it anyways, letting the teen help him up to shaky legs. He looked around, noticing all the empty tubes.

“W-Where’s-?”  
“THERE THEY ARE!” They all jumped as the doors slammed open. Bokuto ran in, lifting Kenma up into his arms and twirling him around. Kenma let out a yelp in surprise and smacked him in the arm until he was let down.

“Kenma that was so cool! You were like a superhero! You’re so smart!” Bokuto grinned.

“I must admit, your deduction skills were quite impressive. I’d be worried playing against you in a match.” Ushijima had Tendou clinging to his side, much like from Kenma’s dreams.

“I did say it’d be impossible to win with him alive.” Mika had hurried over to Daishou, clinging to his arm.

“It wouldn’t have been pulled off without the others too.” Kenma mumbled, cheeks bright red from all the attention.

“That is true. Congratulations you five.” The group all looked to the door as a woman stood in the door.

“You’re the front desk lady!” Sugawara remembered. The woman laughed.

“That was my avatar, yes. I’m here to thank all of you for participating in our Beta-test! We’ve learned quite a bit, including the errors of avatars not quite forgetting the real world as they should. As well as the mastermind being able to glitch out others avatars.” She seemed a little annoyed by the last part but her smile returned soon enough.

“We have a celebration banquet in the cafeteria, so if you could all make your way there then we can start.” Everyone’s eyes widened at the sound of food and almost immediately the room cleared. Kenma paused by the woman, looking up at her.

“Um…Where’s Tets- Kuroo?” Kenma asked. The woman chuckled.

“He seemed pale when he woke up so we sent him to the infirmary real quick to get checked out. He should be in the cafeteria by now though.” She reassured him. Kenma nodded and hurried out, heading in the direction the others went in. He opened the door to the cafeteria.

“BRO!” He smiled to himself as he saw Bokuto tackled Kuroo to the ground.

“You little- You were the bad guy the whole time?!” Bokuto was whining. Kuroo laughed, pushing his owl friend off him.

“I wouldn’t be a good mastermind if it was obvious, Bo.” Kuroo pointed out. Bokuto pouted but helped Kuroo up. Kuroo looked around before his eyes locked on Kenma. His usual, familiar, stupid grin spread on his face.

“Hey kitten.” He greeted, like nothing had happened. Kenma walked over to Kuroo calmly. He jabbed Kuroo in the side, earning a hiss of pain.

“If you EVER do something like that to me again, I will never forgive you.” Kenma muttered before wrapping his arms around Kuroo tightly. Kuroo hugged him back, kissing the top of his head.

“Don’t worry, I won’t ever leave you, kitten.” He murmured. Kenma took a deep breath before looking up, pulling Kuroo down by his shirt and pressing a quick kiss to his lips. Bokuto immediately let out a “WHOOP!” followed by a smacking noise that was probably from Akaashi. Kenma snickered at Kuroo’s bewildered expression, his face entirely red.

“Oh my god get a room.” Daishou called, holding a plate of rice and chicken. Kuroo rolled his eyes.

“We saw plenty of cuddling between you and Mika, don’t even start.” He shot back. Mika laughed, linking her arm in Daishou’s, who chuckled a bit, sending Kuroo a smile.

“Apparently this game was great at making new couples. Kind of weird, considering we literally saw each other die.” Oikawa was leaning against Iwaizumi, his plate on his lap.

“I guess it made us realize what it was like to live without them, and it made it more obvious.” Akaashi’s cheeks were pink as Bokuto wrapped an arm around him, pulling him close.

“So I guess that leaves a pretty big question…” Kenma glanced up at Kuroo, who was smirking.

“Who wants to play again?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GOD I can't believe y'all stuck with me this whole time ;w;  
> You guys were great and I loved reading your comments and thoughts as I updated and I am only slightly sorry for the pain you caused along the way.  
> I'll leave some fun facts for you down here:
> 
> *Bokuto's death was the first one I thought of, since a random thought of "what if captains were killed like their mascots" came to mind (Bokuto's neck snapped= owl, Oikawa being hung= plants, etc etc)  
> * I had no clue who to make the mastermind (Suga was a close second) then it became OBVIOUS to make it Kuroo  
> * Bokuto has the same VA as Mamota Kaito from NDRV3 (the newest game)  
> *I have thought about making a sequel with a different group of the haikyuu nerds  
> *I will probably make a followup shorter fic about when everyone woke up for the first time


	34. NOTES

As you can see, this is now a series!

I will probably make a sequel with different characters at some point when i can think of plots/new murders/executions (atm the second years are looking like the winners of who gets to play next)

BUT i will also say that I have written the side-fic that's how everyone woke up right after they died! It's part of the series so you just go to the series and it'll be there!

Consider it a reward for hanging in with me through all the despair and angst!


End file.
